Deuce's Tale
by Gadget52
Summary: Joseph Aprile is a man who's haunted by his numerous victims now he's working for Toni Cipriani. Meanwhile a new gang is trying to take over and the Leones are their biggest obstacle. Will Deuce be able to prove himself with a Phantom out for his blood.
1. Meet Deuce

2006 Liberty City 5 years after Claude took the city through a trial of violence, money, drugs, and revenge the gangs of liberty city have gone through massive gang-wars in the city. Power has shifted dramatically. The Leone family once led by the paranoid, power-hungry, psychopath Salvatore Leone has lost their iron-tight grip on their turf and is losing a war with the Triads and the Diablos who have taken over Harwood. The Columbian cartel has kicked the south side hoods out of business in Shoreside Vale, however they've lost their turf in Staunton Island to the Yakuza who then lost it to the Leones who were branching out to try and regain a large portion of influence in the city. The Yakuza have not taken this insult lightly they are trying to push the mafia out of their turf and hold on to what they still have. The Yardies are slowly losing power to the Leones and have decided to side with the Yakuza for the sake of business. With gang-wars on the rise the police force is lowering their standards for recruits in a hope to get more officers. It has become a city on edge and all the gangs are waiting for their enemies to make their next move.

Joseph "Deuce" Aprile was a small-time twenty-four year-old hustler he lived in an apartment in Hepburn Heights, spoke with a raspy voice, he drove a black Sentinel and tried his best to stay out of the gangs business in the city the only time he didn't was when he already had enemies and was in jail. He had thick brown hair he kept slicked back, and green eyes, he was 6'2 tall; he was 190 pounds with an athletic figure and had a pale complexion one of his more distinguishing features was a scar made up of two that connected in the shape of a cross on the right side of his face, a vertical slash that started at the temple and ended at his chin and a horizontal one that started at the side of his nose to the front of his ear. He was a small-time hustler and he managed to stay out trouble with the cops who had worse people to chase after. His wardrobe didn't consist of much mostly t-shirts and jeans he had a leather sport coat he wore almost everyday. He left his apartment and headed out to Atlantic Quays to wait on a buyer he was supposed to meet there.

Deuce parked his car in the parking lot by the Warehouse that the local tweakers usually used for raves. Before he got out of the car he noticed three thugs standing by the entrance to the warehouse. He felt worried right away this place was neutral turf. I decided to press my luck and get out of the car.

"Hey who's this cat, doesn't he know this is our turf?"

"Your turf, nobody operates on this part of town."

"Not anymore, we run this warehouse now."

And with that comment they drew their guns. Deuce dove and took cover behind a Mannana. All he had on him was his pistol of choice an IMI Jericho 941; the thugs had a mac-10, a glock, and a stubby shotgun. Deuce knelt down and just before he took a few potshots an engine roared in the distance. A Diablos stallion came out of nowhere and parked next to the Mannana. The Diablos ignored Deuce once they got out of the car and open fired on the warehouse thugs. They got off plenty of fire and hit one of the thugs he went down quick, unfortunately the Diablos went down almost as fast.

There he was knelt down with a hand gun while two thugs were shooting at his only cover; he had to think of something quick. Deuce looked into the Diablos car and saw an opportunity. He got ready and took off firing at the thugs; he wasn't hoping to hit them just hoping for some cover. He stood at the corner of the warehouse waiting for my opportunity. One of the thugs slowly crept up trying to stay vigilant. Just as he turned the corner he found Deuce waiting with a baseball bat he took from the car.

"Oh fu..." Before he could finish his sentence Deuce introduced his face to the bat. The problem was there was one more guy waiting for him and he had a shotgun. The last thug started firing at the corner but all he did was give the building a buckshot makeover.

"Shit out of ammo." After that he could hear his footsteps, he was going for his friend's gun. Before he could reach it Deuce turned the corner and pressed his Jericho to the thug's forehead.

"Who the hell are you working for?"

"I'm not telling you shit."

"That's a bad answer."

"NO wait don't." Deuce didn't have time for this shit he just found himself at the scene of a mass homicide and the so-called thug wanted to be a tough guy.

"You've got one more chance, don't make me kill you."

"Go to hell I'm no rat."

"You're right you're no rat, you're a corpse." The mixture of his blood and brain matter left a disgusting mess on the concrete.

Deuce heard another car coming and turned around to see a modified sentinel coming his way. "Can't I catch a break today?"The sentinel stopped about six feet away from Deuce and he was greeted by three Mafia goons aiming at him.


	2. Introduced to my future

Chapter 2:

"Whoa, put those guns down, I know him and he isn't one of them." It was a familiar voice but the body didn't match. "Deuce it's me Toni, Toni Cipriani." Deuce was surprised to say the least he had met Toni a few times but he had lost a lot of weight since he last saw him. "I know, you're thinking what the hell Toni's a big fat guy, well ever since the heart attack I had to lose the weight couldn't let my mother die before me."

"Heart attack?" Deuce had since then put his glock back in the holster.

"Yeah, a year ago, 8-ball never told you, ah no matter, you need to tell me, what the hell are you doing here?"

"I was hoping to find some business but these guys opened fire on me." Toni's men had begun to check the dead bodies.

"And the Diablos, how the hell do they fit into all of this."

"I was hoping you could tell me, that and who these guys work for they said something about this being their turf but last I checked these warehouses are neutral."

"I'll tell you about it later for now let's see what in this warehouse they claimed as theirs has got inside."

They managed to get in thanks to some keys they found on one of the thugs. Walking around they managed find piles of spank, and EL Burro DVDs. "Shit, boys it looks like we found what we were looking for." Toni pulled out a cell phone and dialed in a number. "Joey it's me we found their stash and some stuff they took from the Diablos. Send the boys over with a moving truck and maybe some more soldiers. Well you see there were just three guys standing guard I think more may be coming." With that we could hear screeching tires from outside.

All three of Toni's guys were outside and firing on the gang that had just arrived. Without saying anything Toni rushed out of the warehouse to help out. There were four thugs total They all had mac-10s Toni's boys had Ak-47s but they were out in the open they were mowed down quickly, when Deuce and Toni got out of there two thugs stood remaining Toni took a shot at one of them with his .357 but he left himself open. Toni ducked to the side but he still took one in the shoulder. While the last thug took aim at Toni Deuce took a potshot and hit him right in the head.

"Shit, my shoulder." Deuce ran over to Toni to check on him.

"Toni I think it went right through, but we got to got you to the hospital."

"No not the hospital, too many cops, and too many questions."

"Then what do we do man, you're bleeding pretty badly." Deuce picked Toni up and helped him walk to the car.

"There's a doctor he lives in that new apartment complex in Saint Marks, the one they blew up back in '98."

Things were not going well for Deuce he had a bleeding mobster in his car and they just left a massacre. Toni managed to use his arm and pull out his cell phone. "Joey, more of their guys showed up the boys are dead and I've been hit in the shoulder. I need you to get those guys down there now or it'll have all been for nothing. All right, I'm heading for the Doctor's place over in Saint Marks meet me there."

8 years ago the place had been destroyed, 5 years ago it was still just wreckage, but a year ago the city council demanded the building be replaced. 3 months ago construction finished and a new set of condos was built on the site. Now only the rich of Portland could afford to live there. One of those men was a Doctor who made a lot of money fixing up Leone soldiers in private and off the records.

When they got there the good doctor was waiting for them, Deuce and the doctor managed to sneak Tony in without anyone seeing him. "Well it looks like the bullet went through like you suspected."

"Will he be okay?"

"He lost a lot of blood but he'll be fine."

That was the cue for Joey Leone to come barging into the Doctors place.

"Where is he Doc, where the hell is Toni?"

"Relax I just got telling our friend here he'll be fine. The bullet went right through but he needs some rest.

"Friend I don't know him."

"My name is Joseph, Joseph Aprile but most people call me Deuce, I'm a friend of 8-balls, I was there when it went down."

"Oh yeah I heard of you you're that small timer that lives down in Hepburn Heights."

"Well I've got three dead men and my Capo has been shot, so what exactly went down over the warehouse."

Joey sat down and Deuce told him went down in Atlantic Quays. All he did was nod the while time. When I finished one of his guards walked up to Joey. "Boss, Mickey Hamfists called he said they secured the spank and the El Burro DVDs from the ware house."

"Good now listen I want the DVDs in a separate van, we might be able to use this to our advantage." The Leone soldier stepped back and made a call on his cell phone. "All right Joseph you've done us a huge favor today. If you ever feel that you need some help don't be afraid to ask me, you got that. In these trying times I'm not a man who forgets to reward his friends." Deuce shook Joey's hand and headed out.


	3. A secret is revealed

Ever since his father's assassination in 2001 Joey Leone had become Don of the Leone family. His experience as boos had made him a wiser man. Any man would have been glad to bring his father's killer to justice but there remained one major problem. The assassination of Salvatore Leone was ordered by the Yakuza but that fact was unknown to the Leones, and the Yakuza were the most powerful gang in Stanton Island a part of town untouched by the Leones and their business. However soon enough Claude would step on the toes of every gang in liberty city, needless to say his name was on many shit-lists.

The Diablos led by El Burro eventually entered a turf war with the Leone family. Thanks to money from El Burro's adult entertainment business and dealing spank on the turf they had they were able to eventually gain control of Harwood. With more turf the Diablos were able to gain more money and influence in the drug trade. However much of this money was put into the war against the Leones.

Over time the relationships of the gangs in Staunton Island changed the Yakuza after losing two bosses in 2001 was left in the charge of a man with a great hunger for money. The Yakuza began dealing spank, there were Yakuza that were opposed to this plan however the new boss soon made examples out of them. They lost some of their connections and many soldiers but their boss ignored this once he started collecting his profits.

After the deaths of Miguel and Catalina the Cartel gained a new boss that wanted to change things. Instead of trying to hold on to their Staunton Island turf which was the Yakuza's prime Target, he decided that the only objective for them was to gain complete control of Shoreside Vale. In the war against the yakuza the Cartel found their Pan-Lantic construction site turf seized. After losing turf to the Yakuza the Yardies decided to jump ships and side with them to ensure their safety. With their biggest spank buyer out of the picture their own soldiers began to turn on each other. With their own people feuding the Cartel eventually moved all operations to Shoreside Vale.

With all of this going on Joey Leone knew he might lose it all he had to find a way to put a stop to the turf wars. If he could just stop one it would mean he could put more into the others which would be a big step in maintaining his power. The only thing he had to do was decide who to make peace with. Joey sat in his late father's office considering every angle. Finally he made his first decision, it would take time but he would need it to come up with his next move.

El Burro was not exactly a patient man, legend has it when one of his actors asked for a raise one of his thugs gave him a meat cleaver and he made sure that he wouldn't be acting in any adult films anytime soon. The triad once lit his car on fire, El Burro had 25 of there soldiers lit on fire. His anger and power to use it helped him in taking Harwood for the Diablos. He had decided that with the wars in the streets he would best travel alone and inconspicuously.

He stood alone on the Chinatown waterfront train platform. He was in a fairly good mood a recruitment drive from the triad brothels had possibly left him with five new starlets. As the train approached he pulled the Hood on his sweatshirt up to cover his face. When the train reached him and the doors opened he was surprised to see only one other person on the train.

As he sat down he looked at the other person he saw that he too was wearing a hooded-sweatshirt with the hood pulled up covering most of his face. "Well EL Burro nice to see you're alone." Any man in that situation would have panicked.

"Who the hell are you?" El Burro now had a .357 drawn and pointed at the mystery man's head. "You're here to kill me aren't you? Who sent you?"

"Relax if I wanted you dead I wouldn't talk to you." The stranger then revealed his identity by lowering his hood, it was Joey Leone.

"You think I won't kill you?" Joey had gotten on his feet and was facing EL Burro. In response to this El Burro pulled back the hammer on his revolver.

"No, I don't think you will, because right now I've got two things that you want."

"Well why don't you tell me what those things are? If you think that they'll save you." El Burro steadied his arm keeping his sights on Joey's head.

"The DVDs that they took from you, and peace in the streets."

"If you think I'll back down you've got another thing coming."

"Nah men I want you holding on to your power, I'm proposing a truth both of us are losing men, money, and power. I heard that your adult entertainment business is going down the drains. If we put our differences aside then when can restore our power and we'll be able to hold on to the turf we have."

"What's in it for me Leone?" A curious look had taken over El Burro's face

Fighting two wars on this Island is costing me big time; if I can manage to keep a peace with you then my boys here can focus attention on the Triads. They're dealing spank and other narcotics which has cost them support from other Triad gangs throughout the country. With no more need to fight with you they'll be wiped out from liberty. If you're willing to help then I'll give you some of their turf.

"What if I refuse?"

"Well if the war continues and the triads wipe us out then they'll come after you. With the turf they take from us they have no trouble taking your guys down. Now if we win then we gain all of their turf and that means that we'll be able to take you down with them money we gain from their streets."

"Who says we won't take you out first?"

"Because El Burro, even if you did take me out you would be taken down without any allies. The Yardies and the Yakuza are working together which is bad new for you. They've already attacked you and they show no signs of stopping. Eventually they weaken you little by little they'd start to take over you turf, just making things easier for them. When the time is right they both take you down and split Portland. Also let's not forget about our new friends in the city. I don't even want to think about what they would do if they were thrown into the math."

EL Burro stood there gun still drawn and aimed at Joey, considering what he had said. "All right let's see we call a truce what's going to stop you from attacking me?"

"As I've said I'm fighting wars on two islands, double-crossing my only ally would be my worst possible move. You and me we could do great things together. You and me we could take over this city."

El burro looked away for a second but then he looked Joey straight in the eye and put his gun away. "All right Leone I'll go along with this truth, for now but I want none of your goons on MY turf, got it?"

"That's completely understandable, here take this." Joey handed El Burro an envelope

"What is this?"

"Keys and the number of the storage lockup with a van, that's where we've put the van. Also a number you can contact me with, if you're happy with what you find and you want to talk business don't be afraid to call."

"One more question Leone, why did you meet me this way?"

"Well take a look at the next stop."

The Train came to a stop to reveal six Leone men armed with M4s waiting at the station.

"Had to make sure if you pulled something then you wouldn't get away with it.

As Joey stepped off the train he turned around to face El Burro. He put his fist near his face with his thumb and pinky sticking out mouthing the words "Call me"

El Burro sat down the next station would be his stop Hepburn Heights, his turf, his home. He stared blankly at the envelope that Joey had handed him, the DVDs would soon be in his possession. He put the envelope in the same pocket as his gun and begun to stare at the train ceiling. "Joey Leone I hope you're a lot more trustworthy then your backstabbing son-of-a-bitch father.

"Where do you want to go next Boss?" Joey's driver for the night asked

"Sex club seven I got some business to take care of yet."

Luigi Goterelli was pimp and a one of the Leone family's captains. Over the years his ownership of Sex Club 7 became a powerful asset for the Leones. The club became the Red Light District's best location for pleasure, whether it was in pill or powder form, came in a bottle, or was one of Luigi's working girls. It also proved to be a weak link in the chain that was the Leone's defense, many a snitch had gotten info from the club, and Luigi was also the one who first gave Claude work, the Catalyst to an unbelievable story of blood, bullets, and bombs.

The night had proved a successful one, the spank the Leones seized earlier sold itself all Luigi had to do was figure out how much he had to give to the Leones as tribute. One of the things that angered Luigi was the fact that he still had to pay 40 of his profits to the family as tribute. Though Luigi was a fairly intelligent man and knew never to speak against the family for in these times of war Joey Leone had not become paranoid like his father but demanded loyalty, Joey probably wouldn't become suspicious but his men would and Luigi couldn't afford that for he had a secret to keep.

The club had reached its closing hour and Luigi was ready to leave. He had a white envelope with a large stack of cash inside the pocket of his suit jacket. Before he could get to the back door of a modified sentinel he heard a familiar voice call out to him. "Hey Luigi hold up." He turned to his side to see Joey Leone walking towards him.

"Joey, what's it been a month since I saw you last, you really should come to the club more."

"I know, I know I was just finishing some business and decided to come on over and have a drink."

"Well we're closed right now but I can open up for you."

"All right I'll give you a ride after we're done."

Luigi walked to the front of the Sentinel and knocked on the tinted window. "I'll catch a ride with these guys so you can take off for the night, here's the key to the garage, park the car in the garage and call yourself a cab. I'll call you tomorrow."

"All right boss, I'll talk to you tomorrow." The driver rolled up the window and took off in the night. Luigi then walked to the door with Joey and his men close to him.

"So what was that business you had to take care of?" There were usually no secrets between Joey and Luigi they were old friends and Luigi was one of Joey's captains.

"Well if things go according to plan then we'll be at peace with the Diablos."

"Peace talks with the Diablos, if only your father could see what you've done in his place." The door was now unlocked and Luigi turned to Joey. "Before I forget here's your take from today's score from that spank you found." Joey reached into his pocket and handed the envelope to Joey who then handed it back to one of his bodyguards.

Luigi lead Joey to the front of the bar while Joey's guards stayed at the door. "Hey I forgot, you got you're start slinging drinks back in one of pop's gambling joints."

"Yeah those were the days, life was simple none of all this shit nowadays I was about 18 and the Forellis really got it stuck to them by that Tommy Vercetti. Those were the days back when things were starting to go smooth for the family. I even remember my first job for the family. Some punk pimp working for the triads was trying to steal some of the family's girl. I was collecting cash for one of the family's pimps and I had to rough up the guy. I remember after that people finally started paying me respect."

Joey sat at the bar watching Luigi reminisce and then took a sip of his drink and decided to change the subject. "Yeah Luigi you've come a long way since then."

"The family's come a long way as well the Sindaccos are gone and so are the Forellis and now it looks like we'll be at peace with the Diablos."

"Yeah it has been a long five years and yet…"

"What Joey, what's on your mind?"

"Five years and we don't know who was behind it; I mean I just recently found out how they knew when he would leave."

Luigi was reaching for a bottle of vodka he was going to pour for himself, but he stopped.

"How long have you known?"

"It's been about a week now; I tried to wrap my head around why you would do it."

"Money, the club was starting to fail due to that spank shit. I knew that your father's paranoia was killing the family and I was approached for information.

"How much, what was the price they put on my father's life?"

"$150,000 all they wanted to know was when he was going to leave."

"Why didn't you got to my father for help?"

"I did but he said that the family had more important business. I had been a loyal and patient man to him for over a decade and he tossed me aside like garbage."

"I have just one more question who was it that approached you? Who made you sell-out my father?"

"It was the Yakuza. Claude was the assassin. Joey I have no family no need to worry about whether the casket is closed or not. All I ask is that it's quick."

"Do you want to see it coming?"

"Not really but it would be best if it was, make sure that it's easier to make it look like a robbery. The safe is in my office, I'm pretty sure you know that combination. The money the yakuza gave me is there as well. Strangely enough business picked up and I never needed to use it. I wrote a will a while bit after the assassination my house, car, and the club are all left to you, along with all the cash in the bank."

Joey nodded to one of his men he walked over and handed Joey a Glock. "Good bye, my old friend Luigi." As he squeezed the trigger a single tear left Joey's right eye. As the tear rolled down his cheek Luigi's now dead body fell to the floor. Luigi Goterelli was killed by one of his friends for betraying another one of his friends it was a vicious and senseless cycle, it was the bullshit cycle of day-to-day life in Liberty City.

* * *

Author's Notes:I know it's longer than the last two but I needed to put two together so I could move along quicker. The next chapter may take a while since I need to make the final decisions on Deuce's Tattoos. Special thanks to Seifer Almasy 911 for the reviews. 


	4. Fallen Angel

Chapter 4:

Joseph woke up in his apartment alone. He found a half drunken bottle of beer next to his bed. He grabbed it and chugged the remaining contents. He wore a pair of sweatpants revealing the tattoos on his back that usually remained hidden. He had a an anime-like character on his back holding an AK-47 in each hand below the character was his nickname Deuce in script and on his shoulder blades the words FALLEN ANGEL in Old English. A tribal tattoo sleeve started at the back of his right hand and made it all the way up his arm, his shoulder and on to his neck. On his left bicep was an MAC-10 surrounded by a banner that read "live by the gun and thous shall die by the gun". On his chest was a angel with it's wings open as is if it were going to fly and below it in Old English was "PRAY FOR ME". He wore black leather dress shoes, baggy black khakis, a black T-shirt and black leather two-button blazer and then grabbed a pair of gold Aviators with lenses that seemed to be pitch black.

He locked his apartment door and started to walk down the hall when he heard a familiar voice. "Deuce, since when do you wake up at this hour." He turned around to see the local working girl Misty. So far he had been able to avoid her advances.

"Well I went to bed a little early last night, and I've got to go see 8-Ball."

"Well, what's up with all the black, you going to a funeral?" Deuce didn't reply he didn't realize his was wearing all black until now. "So what's this I hear about you joining up with the Leones?

"WHAT, me joining up with the Leones, you know that I keep out of the gangs."

"Well that's the word that's going around, and something about you helped them raid a warehouse or something."

By the time she had finished Deuce was heading into the nearest elevator. There was too much going on now. He needed to take care of bullet-holes and blood stains on the interior of his car. Now the word on the street said that he had sided with the Leones and had helped them raid a warehouse. He wasn't too surprised by the warehouse story he had trouble believing he would find himself at a raid by accident. It also didn't help the situation that he killed some mystery thug and broke another's face with a bat.

He hopped into his car hoping things would get better today. The bass of the rap music from his stereo manipulated the smoke from his Cigarillo. As he was about to turn into Harwood he could see a modified sentinel coming out of Saint Marks. He watched a mobster leave the car and walk up to a group of Diablos. "What the hell, why aren't they firing on him." The mobster proceeded to talk to the Diablos and then walked back to his car. "Too much weird shit is going on nowadays."

Soon enough he had reached 8-ball's garage the place looked busy a mechanic stood outside as if he was standing guard. "Hello, can I help you?"

"Yeah is 8-ball around?"

"Does he know your coming?"

"No."

"Yeah well we're busy today so you're going to have to fuck off and come back tomorrow."

Deuce was not happy, he had apparently joined the mob, he had bullet-holes in his car, and blood on the interior and now some asshole was telling him what he could and could not do.

"Excuse me, could you come over here for a second?"

The mechanic cautiously approached him. He seemed pissed but he doubted he would do anything, he was a bad guesser. Deuce grabbed the man by his jumpsuit and lifted him, then he tossed him to the ground, he landed face-first. When he got on all fours trying to get up Deuce gave him a kick in the ass sending him down again.

"Listen I'm in a bad mood, I need my car fixed, and if 8-Ball asks who threw you to the ground tell him it's the same guy who had his back when he got locked up."

The mechanic ran off heading towards 8-ball's apartment/workshop, with as much stuff that went down here I doubted he'd call the cops.

"That's the guy 8-ball; he's the one that roughed me up."

"That's my friend Deuce, what are you doing making him wait."

"You get some real great service around here 8-ball, what's next I ask for a tune-up and they guys kick me in my balls.

"Don't worry it about we'll take care of you here man."

"But boss, he…"

"He's done more for me then you ever have so why don't you do us all a favor and take his car into the garage."

"Key's are in the ignition Mr. Service"

"Come on in to the workshop Deuce, we'll have a beer."

Deuce nodded and followed 8-ball into his workshop while giving 8-ball's employee the finger. 8-ball grabbed two beers out of a cooler by a couch. He handed one to Deuce before sitting down on the couch. 8-ball was a little shorter then Deuce he was black and had a shaven head and always had some facial hair above his lip but it never seemed to grow long enough to be what most would consider a mustache. His blue and white jacket which was normally closed was now open to reveal an oil stained t-shirt his faded blue jeans had matching oil stains. "Hey Deuce, how come I hear all the shit this morning about how you joined up with the Leones?"

"You know you're the second person to tell me today that I joined the Leones. The weird part is I don't have any recollection of it."

"I knew it had to be bullshit, you've been neutral for so long you should change your name to France."

"Yeah but that wouldn't work, you see I actually have a sense of taste, much unlike those frog-suckers."

Deuce took a swig from his beer; 8-ball was his best friend. Of course in this city one good friend was hard to come by, it seemed like everyone was always out to make a quick buck at someone else's expense. They were friends for many years, when 8-ball got arrested, Deuce and Claude were some of the people in the joint that didn't have beef with 8-ball and weren't in the mob, of course this was just after Joseph had earned the nickname Deuce. At this point in their lives Deuce had lost count of who owed who how many favors. 8-ball went to jail and Deuce and Claude had his back, Deuce was short on cash and 8-ball always had something he needed done in exchange for cash.

"So how things been with money for you lately you know I wouldn't have any problem loaning you some cash."

"Nah, I've got some cash saved up I should get buy for a while without having to do anything for a bit." Jo took another swig from the bottle, he enjoyed these moments were he could just relax for a bit and not worry about what would happen soon.

"Well how'd you come up with the cash to keep yourself set for a bit?"

"My landlord is one of my best customers; I can't remember the last time I paid him in cash. Plus yesterday when that shit went down at the warehouse I noticed some cash laying around."

"Just how much cash was lying around?"

"$20,000"

"You just took 20 Gs from a warehouse the mob raided?"

"They saw it, besides even if they didn't I saved their Capo Regime, and if I wasn't there they probably would have been able to raid it in the first place, and the cash isn't what they were looking for, there was a lot of spank there, and a lot of El Burro DVDs to. Hey that reminds me, you know anything about the Diablos and the Leones?"

"You mean other then the truce?"

"A Truce between the Diablos and the Leones, when did that happen?"

"Last night man, apparently Joey approached El Burro with a deal."

"So what's the Triad got to say about it?"

"They've got other things to worry about, the turf war is making some of the members wanting to reconsider past decisions about the sale of spank, and because of spank they've lost all support from outside Triads families."

"You don't say."

"Oh but it gets better word is some of the higher-ups are planning an old-school Coup."

"A fucking mutiny, that's pretty extreme."

"Yeah, but word also has it that it may be too late and apparently one of the West Coast higher-ups is close to ordering a hit on the Triad boss."

"A west coast Triad boss interfering with Liberty city shit, the other Triads must be really out for these guys."

"Yeah well this guy isn't a small-timer; he's a blind Triad Boss from San Fierro in San Andreas his name is supposed to be Wu Zi Mu." Deuce took the last swig of his beer and gave 8-ball a long hard look. "Oh but it gets better, Wu Zi Mu owns a casino along with Carl Johnson."

"Carl 'CJ' Johnson?"

"The one and the same, with all this shit going on it seems like the best opportunity for the triad's enemy to strike.

"So what's up with the blind guy is he pretty well respected with the Triads?"

"He's untouchable man, on the west coast he's the Triad equivalent of the Godfather."

"So you're telling me the Triad Godfather is going to call out a hit on the triad leader here."

"Yeah too bad only his war-lords know who he is." Deuce understood what 8-ball meant, only select triad war-lords knew just who the leader of the Triad was. It was probably the only thing that would keep them in business now that there was a truce between the Diablos and the Leones.

"8-ball man this city, this city is going to pay for the sins of these gangs."

"Yeah but what can you do?"

"Well I'm telling you right now I'm never going leave this city. I was born here and when my time comes I'm going to die here."

"Yeah man, the only question is what are we going to do before that happens?" The same mechanic that Deuce through to the ground walked in

"Hey boss, you might want to come and see what this guy did to his car."

The three of them walked back to a garage, Deuce had a pained look on his face, because he knew what he was in for with the damage on his car.

"Holy shit man, what the hell happened yesterday?"

The back door had been opened to reveal all the blood in the back interior. 8-Ball and the mechanic had begun to stare at Deuce.

"I had a bleeding mobster in my car so excuse if I didn't think to clean it out right away."

"That's not all boss he's got some bullet holes in the side, it's a miracle they didn't hit the gas tank, we managed to find all the bullets in the trunk so at least we won't have to spend all our time digging for them. The problem is we'd have to empty out the tank and then wait a while for the fumes to leave before we deal with the holes."

"Shit Deuce, with all the other stuff on our plate this may take a while."

"Just how long man?"

"Well at the most five days."

"All right, I guess I can live without my car for at least five days. But I'm going to need a few things from you."

"Why do you need them?"

"Just for protection, you never know what's going to happen in Liberty City."

Deuce was now driving in a red 2001 Esperanto that he had loaned from 8-ball. He found himself in one of the dirtiest parts of liberty city, the Red Light District. Keeping his eye on the rear-view mirror he saw a Kuruma had been following him since Hepburn heights. "Shit looks like people really do think I joined the Leones." He looked ahead to see a police roadblock ahead of him.

Deuce decided to pull over to the roadblock. "What the hell are you doing around here Aprile?" He recognized the detective that walked up to his car. His name was Henry Johnson he had been on the force for six years and was always willing to look the other way.

"Well Johnson, I'm wondering what the police are doing in front of the club?"

"There was a robbery here last night."

"But aren't you with Homicide?"

"They found a body they identified him as the owner, Luigi Goterelli."

"Shit Luigi is dead."

"Yeah, shot him right in the head. Must have snuck in and he turned around right before they shot him."

"Listen Johnson I need a favor, right now."

"Sure Aprile, what do you need?"

"Don't look at them but those guys behind me in the Kuruma, I think they're with whoever was holding shit in that warehouse that the Leones."

"What do you want me to do?"

"I might have killed a couple of their guys, and I think they're going to try to kill me."

"All right I'll try and distract them."

"Hey Johnson, if you can, try and get them arrested."

"Now how am I supposed to do that?" Johnson had raised his sunglasses and gave Deuce a concerned look.

"Just think of something, I'll pay you back later."

"All right but you're going to owe me for this."

Deuce drove-off slowly and watched his rear-view mirror the thugs interrupted by a detective who stood in front of their car. Johnson walked slowly up to the front driver side door. He knocked on the window and as the driver rolled it down. "LCPD would you please show me your license and registration?"

"Sure officer." The driver handed him the required documents. "Why exactly did you pull me over? I received some info form an informant that some gang-members were in the area in a vehicle matching yours. Dispatcher this is Johnson I need some info on a Luke Whalen." At that point whatever happened was out of Deuce's view but he felt certain the thugs wouldn't pull anything.

As he turned out of the Red Light District and turned into Saint Marks Deuce pulled the Glock form the holster under his jacket and put it in the glove box. He was going to see Joey Leone and the last thing he wanted was to be carrying a gun. He stepped out of the car and headed for the entrance. "Put your hands up where I can see 'em." Deuce reacted without thinking and put his hands up his head turning ever so slowly to face the guard. The guard was a very tall man around 6'7 with a muscular figure in a black button-up shirt with a whit floral print, he had white dress pants with brown leather dress shoes and a brown ceaser haircut. "What are you doing here?" He pressed his Desert Eagle against Jo's left temple.

"I'm just here to talk to Joey man."

"Oh yeah, what's your name?"

"Joseph, my name is Joseph Aprile." The Guard managed to pull his cell phone out of his front pocket while keeping his gun held to Deuce's head.

"Boss it's me Joel, there's a guy here he says his name is Joseph Aprile."

"But Boss… all right I'll let him in." The Guard had put his gun down and had tilted his head towards the building; he knew what the guard meant. As he walked off Deuce muttered something under his breath.

"What a great goddamn greeting."

Jo walked in to the House to find an open door he walked in to find Joey Leone sitting behind a desk. Lounge music was playing a half-empty glass of scotch lay on the desk next to a stack of papers and his cell phone. Joey Leone had his head looking down as if there was something interesting on his lap. He looked up with a half-worried half-happy look on his face. "Hey Deuce, nice to see you decided to visit."

"Yeah the feeling is mutual Joey."

"So why exactly are you here?"

"I thought a bit before I showed up and at first I was going to demand that you stop these rumors about me working for you."

"What can I say word spreads around fast, the problem is that is as it seems sometimes?"

"Yeah, but the thing is some guys were going to try and kill me on my way here."

"Do you want them taken care of?"

"No that would just make it look like I joined up with you even more."

"What exactly are you saying?"

"All these years I stayed out of the gangs business and for a while it worked, but now I'm a marked man even though I never joined any of the gangs."

"I'm still not getting what you're saying."

"Since I have pretty much no choice, I've decided that I would like to work for you."

"Well I'm flattered it was against your will but how do I know that you'd be a man I want to have on my side?"

"8-ball never told you how I got my nickname did he?"

"No, well tell you what I've got some time on my hands why don't we go and see him and he can tell me all about it."

Joey then grabbed his cell phone off of his desk, "Joel, get one of the cars ready we're going to Harwood. Well Deuce it looks like I'm going to find out about your little nickname.

"It's about time Joey, you're in for one hell of a story." The two men had just about reached the car when Deuce noticed the driver; it was the same skinhead goon that just about shot Deuce a few minutes ago.


	5. Haunted

Chapter: 5

The modified sentinel had reached the bomb-shop in one piece despite the fast and furious driving of Joey's lackey Joel. "Jesus H. Christ Joel!" Screamed Deuce, "How much do you want to die, because I'm sure that there's a lot more painless ways to die."

"I'd rather take some people with me." Joey Leone stepped out of the car as if the ordeal was a Sunday afternoon drive. "Besides I don't know why we had to come here for a story you could have told back at the house."

"It's not something I like to talk about and I can't remember exactly what happened, it led to a lot of stuff that fucked up my head. Anyway, Joey how do get used to Joel driving that?"

"Joel's been driving me for years."

"Well I don't have a reason to die so I think I'll walk back to your house if you don't mind?"

"Nonsense Joel has never been in an accident in his life."

"That's probably because all the other cars were doing all they could to get away, and all the pedestrians went inside."

As they approached 8-balls workshop they were greeted by the same mechanic from this morning. "Hey boss, that Deuce guy is back."

8-ball emerged from his garage with oil-stains on his white T-shirt curious as to why Deuce had come back with Joey Leone and one of his goons. "Sup Deuce, uh what exactly are Joey and Joel doing here?"

"Well 8-ball, Joey wants to know just how I earned my nickname."

"You mean they don't know." Said 8-ball pointing towards Joey and Joel

"They probably just don't know that it was me."

"All right, bring them into the workshop, I'll tell them over a cold one."

8-ball led all four of them into his workshop. Joey was now more curious then ever, apparently he had probably heard about what happed but didn't know it was Deuce. The room had a couch and a chair; 8-ball sat the chair in front of the couch where there others sat down on. "Well you see it happened back in 2000." 8-ball looked at the ceiling as if he had to focus to tell the story.

8-ball's POV

It was a Sunday if I remember correctly and Joey mentioned he needed some cash, unfortunately so was I. Two other associates of mine were strapped for cash. Soon a rumor I heard would give me a good idea. Some small time dealer hit it big after he made a few quick moves and made a deposit of cash in the bank that would stay there until he could find a way to launder it all at the same time. Along with the other cash the bank had around 1.7 million once the guy deposited the cash. We were all desperate for cash, and eventually we came up with an idea, we were gonna pull a bank job.

We only had a couple of days to plan. Our friend Jake would be the driver, Shane would have crowd control I would be on explosives and Deuce would have my back and make sure things went smooth. We had to get the guns quick luckily Phil Cassidy was able to hook us up. The plan was set we had our supplies and we had the plan memorized. The job was simple in concept Jake would cruise in a taxi and had a walkie-talkie set to our frequency we could call for him when we were ready, he would stay within three blocks to make sure we didn't have to wait forever.

We ran in I had a shotgun and Shane and Deuce both had an AK-47. While Shane kept an eye on things in the lobby Deuce and I made our ways back to the safe. There were two guards there but we took care of them before they even had a chance. As I began to set the explosives in Place I told Deuce to go check in on Shane. When he got there it was too late, Shane had taken his eye off a security guard who then went for his gun. He turned to see a .38 aimed at his chest, I heard the gunshots, but I kept working on the explosives. "Hey, what happened out there man?" I heard a silence for about ten seconds before Deuce finally replied. "The Guard shot Shane man, he's dead."

"Shit, Listen man you work on crowd control, I'm almost done."

I thought that would be our only problem but apparently one of the staff triggered the silent alarm. As soon as finished setting up the charges I could hear the sirens.

"Attention, this is the LCPD you're surrounded come out with your hands up." A cop called out from a megaphone. It was already too late for the cops; I had the explosives set and was out in the lobby. The explosion was a little more powerful than I had expected. The power of it had nearly knocked us to our feet. Luckily it didn't burn any of the money. "Jesus Christ man, you trying to take down the whole bank." Deuce barked as we filled bags with cash. By the time we had all the cash in bags our Jake rang in on the walkie-talkie. "Guys it's me what's the situation?"

"Jake it's me, Shane is dead, we got the cash but the police are outside, can you see them?"

"Yeah there are only three cars there though."

"Three, they only sent three cars to a bank robbery."

"Yeah but there was a problem there's a riot in Hepburn Heights."

"If there's a riot they're going to have they're hands full, if we can just take care of the cops outside we should be safe."

"Yeah but what if we get busted Joseph?"

I looked over to him but it was too late he was headed out the door. I ran out to the lobby to find him talking to himself. "I'm broke, I'm pissed, but I ain't getting busted." He had his AK-47 in his right hand and Shane's in his left hand. He walked outside with two guns and opened fire on the cars. Needless to say he took car of the cars. He kept firing until the clips were empty I walked out to find three burnt cars, a bunch of cops on the ground thankfully still alive so I knew we wouldn't catch as much heat and Joseph standing there with both guns still in his hands. He looked back at me, "what do you say we get the fuck out of here."

Jake pulled up in the Taxi and we were off. Nobody said a thing on the may to my garage. A lot of things happened that day, we robbed a bank, we lost a friend, and Joseph did save all our asses. He earned the name Deuce because of the two guns he used to keep us out of jail. Then a few months later he got pinched, for assaulting an officer, it made a distraction for me and Jake to escape with the only evidence that we hadn't destroyed yet. He got three years in jail for making sure that we didn't get pinched and the bitch of it was he was only eighteen so as soon as he was old enough they locked him up with the big boys.

_Three years _the words that 8-ball spoke were like a knife into Deuce's heart. Those three years, three years of no freedom, three years Liberty City federal prison it was Deuce's personal hell. The sounds of the gates automatically shutting and locking was the noise that ran through his head every night before he fell asleep when he would hear it his body would go numb for a few seconds then his mind would reconnect him to the present.

"Are you all right man?" 8-ball asked. Deuce started shaking his head to get his thoughts clear.

"Yeah I'm just being haunted, so nothing new." Deuce said with a sincere voice.


	6. A bloody beginning

AN: Soory that this update is so long but I really want to condense the chapters without butchering the story. Lately school's been hectic and I keep getting ideas for stories but unless they're oneshots i don't plan to really get started on them to this is done, Mostly do to fear of not getting this done and some of the stories would spoil plot twists for Deuce's Tale. Shout out to Seifer Alamasy 911 thanks for the reviews hopefully soon more people will start to like this as much as you do.

Chapter 6:

Joel kept his eyes on Deuce on the drive back to Joey's. He didn't trust him in the least, he had to work his way up and this guy was probably going way up the hierarchy thanks to that story. "Hey King Kong keep your eyes on the fucking road before we get into an accident." That just pissed Joel off more, this guy was a smartass and it looked like he might be Joey's new yes-man. That's just what he needed another guy he couldn't stand rising through the ranks faster then him. "Hey, Andre the motherfuckin' Giant I'm gonna remind you one more fucking time, keep your goddamned eyes on the road."

"Easy Deuce, Joel here is an excellent driver."

"Yeah well so was Dale Earnhardt and look what happened to him, and I'm pretty sure he kept his eyes on the fucking road."

"All right asshole how about I crash and kill us all would it be possible for you to shut the hell up then."

"As long as you're dead I'll be goddamn peachy you gargantuan bastard."

"BOTH OF YOU SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

"All right boss, but if this Deuce asshole pushes me anymore I'm going to kick his ass."

Deuce didn't say anything after this he just wasn't in the mood to continue the argument he knew to just quit when threats of physical violence got included. It didn't really matter anyway they were just a few feet from the house anyway. Once they had reached the house Joey sent Joel off into the House.

"Deuce, I ain't gonna beat around the bush right now I'm pretty much in a position that's got plenty of people ready to fuck me. Even with the truce with the Diablos I've still only got a small chance of making it. Right now more then ever I need guys that can get shit done for me. Now tomorrow I'm going to need you to take care of some business for me it's a little early for you to be pulling something like this but if you do it right there'll be more work for you, you fuck it up you're going to end up as an errand for Joel. You got me?"

"Yeah, I got you." The words didn't really scare Deuce; he knew what he was getting into by signing up for this shit. He just shook Joey's hand and went back to his temporary car. It actually handled pretty well for an Esperanto, especially a 2001 model. As he drove through the city he reached into the pocket for his pack of smokes to find an empty pack, "Fucking figures." He decided to head to one of his favorite liquor stores to get some more.

As the Esperanto made its way to the red light district Deuce looked into the rear-view mirror to see if anyone was following him. "Is that the same fucking Kuruma from earlier?" Deuce asked himself. This time there was only one the same driver from before. He grabbed the Glock from the glove box and pulled over next to the nearest curb. With the gun behind his back he began walking up to the car. Like a fool the driver came out of the car giving Deuce the best opportunity to get some shots in. The gunshots rang out through the city block that for once had no pedestrians and no cars the shots were the only sound.

Deuce ran up to the dead body and looked him over he grabbed the thug's chrome shotgun and took his wallet from his pocket. "Well Luke, looks like this ain't your fucking day." Luke's dead body had a twisted look of pain and surprise on his face. One final look into the car revealed an unopened pack of cigarettes. "Haven't you heard Luke, these things will kill you." Deuce said jokingly as he lit one in his mouth.

Hepburn Heights wasn't exactly a safe neighborhood so when someone comes out of their car carrying a shotgun no one says a damn thing. Once he walked into his apartment he set the newly acquired shotgun up against the wall. He slowly walked over to his answering machine, it seemed like every time he walked into his apartment he felt tired. The answering machine had no messages as usual he sighed and headed right back out he didn't see the point in staying home especially when it didn't have a home like quality.

Phil's bar was pretty empty normally around now there was a large crowd. It was one those bars that seemed to really pull people in, it was once called the birthplace for alcoholics of liberty city. Deuce loved the place, there was variety one the jukebox, pool tables they served food that was pretty damn decent. He started hanging out there when he was just a kid hustling adults in blackjack and pool, whenever he didn't want to face his parents. He got his first job there; he met his first love there. It was truly his home away from home. He sat down at the bar and just let the hours pass occasionally taking a piss or playing a game of pool.

----------

Deuce awoke and looked around trying to figure out where he was, the face of the woman next to him brought the previous night back in a flash even the decision to sing along to every song he knew that played on the Jukebox. He hopped out of bed and put on his pants all of a sudden his cell phone began to ring. "Yo?"

"Deuce it's me Joey, where are you right now?"

"I think I'm over in Staunton Island right now."

"What you doing over there?"

"I went home with some chick I met at a bar."

"Oh, well listen I need you to meet me over at my garage to talk about that 'thing'"

"All right I'll head right over." Once the conversation was over he began scrambling for his shirt trying to get out of there without waking the girl up. He stealthily made his way out to the living room and grabbed his jacket. Once he was out the door he headed out to the keeping an eye out for any friends of the mystery thugs from yesterday.

The drive back to Portland was nothing short of painful, between the new teenage girl drivers nearly ramming people off the road because their attention was focused on a cell phone conversation over what some other girl wore to the police chase that left seven pedestrians dead. After he got off the bridge Deuce stopped at a red light in Chinatown. He looked to his left to see some triad goons standing on the corner watching him. As he noticed one of them running his finger across his throat and pointed to Deuce. He flipped them off and their reaction, they took aim at his car. "Fuck." He got out of there so fast he outran the police chase.

The Garage had a few thugs standing outside but other then that security was fairly low for a don. He walked into the garage to find only two more guards and a few mechanics one of which recognized him right away. "What are you doing here you little asshole."

"Joel, what the hell are you doing around here?"

"I work here, now would you mind answering my question."

"Joey called me and told me to come ever he mentioned some business."

"Well he's over there if you need him."

"Thank you, Andre the giant."

He walked into the small office eyeing the office to find Joey sleeping in his chair with his feet on his desk. The office had probably seen better day's boxes of papers were stacked on each other. When he turned around to shut the door he heard a small clicking sound, he turned around the first thing he noticed was a loaded .357 aimed right at him. "Oh it's just you Deuce, have a seat." Joey used his gun to point at a chair on the opposite side of his desk.

"Now about this job I think you're going to like it."

"What exactly is it?"

"A hit, it seems a triad goons is one of the phantoms suppliers."

"Who are the fucking Phantoms?"

"Yeah, those guys you and Toni wasted the other day their 'organization' calls themselves the phantoms."

"I see."

"Anyway not only is this guy one of their suppliers but a soldier confronted him for dealing on our turf, the little bastard killed him, some two-bit dealer killed a made man."

"So where does he live?"

"The apartments over by the diner in Chinatown, room seven on the second floor. You do well on this job then there'll be more work for you. Now get the hell out of here." Once he left the office he found Joel waiting for him. "What do you want Joel?"

"I'm coming along, that guy the dealer whacked was my friend."

"All right but we take my car, and you do what I say, you got it Joel?"

"No problem."

"All right and I'm fucking driving." Walking out of the garage Deuce had to run to beat Joel to the driver's side. "Did I not just say that I'm fucking driving?"

"Fuck you." Deuce ignored Joel's comment and got into the car. "So where are we going Deuce?"

"We're heading to Chinatown." Was all Deuce said as he drove off-road heading towards the neighborhood.

"And you criticized my driving." Deuce didn't say anything he was pissed. He wanted to know just what the fuck was going on if killing some triad punk would make him feel better then so be it. Soon enough the two of them had reached the apartment complex.

"You got a piece Joel?"

"Yeah I got my Desert Eagle." Deuce started heading to the trunk remembering the gun he picked up yesterday. "Whoa, where'd you get the shotgun?"

"Some little punk yesterday, I put like seven slugs in the fucker before he even aimed this at me." The duo walked into the complex a few tenants just leaving their apartments ran back inside when they saw Deuce and Joel.

John Lee was sleeping on his cheap couch with the TV still running and a Glock on his stomach. John felt the barrel of his gun run against his stomach as if being taken off he opened his eyes. Two men were standing above him one of them was pointing a big fucking gun at his face. "Knock him out."

He awoke again sitting up in a chair the man that had knocked him out was still aiming his gun at him. "John I got a bad fucking temper, and I don't like when people lie to me do you understand?" John nodded. "Good, now my friend here has a gun that can turn your head to apple sauce, now when I think you're lying I'm going to have him shoot you. And if you tell me that you can't tell me what I want to know and I think you're lying I'll cut your dick off." John nodded again. "Now who exactly is leading these Phantoms?"

"I don't know." Deuce produced a kitchen knife and began to walk over to John. "I swear man I don't know; no one knows who the fucking leader is not even his lieutenants."

"Then how is he able to fucking conduct business."

"I don't know I only hooked up one of their boys with spank."

"So let's say you don't now, how did they contact you."

"They just called one day and said the needed some spank. Then a few days later I sold it to one of their boys."

"Why would they need the spank?"

"I don't know I didn't ask any fucking questions." Deuce produced a wallet from his jacket and showed John the license inside.

"Was he the guy?"

"Yeah that was him, how did you get that anyway?"

"I killed him; did he give you a number use a name anything I can use?"

"No nothing he just said if they needed more they'd contact me."

"No name, no contact, and no phone number you're fucking useless."

"I can't help it, whoever those phantoms are they're professional."

"Just because they confuse a retard like you doesn't make them professional. Anyway we're done here." Deuce started to walk away which calmed down John until Deuce turned around and aimed John's gun at him pressed the Glock to John's chin and pulled the trigger. "Come on Joel let's get the fuck out of here."

As they walked through the halls of the complex there were no more tenants in their way. There was only silence as if the two mysterious men had some to kill all the tenants and so they were in hiding. People knew the score in this city they'd either keep their mouths shut or give false descriptions of the assailants. In exchange for this they were allowed to live for at least another day. The two men left a scene that in the majority of other cities in the world would cause a panic. The shotgun was now back in the trunk and Joel's Desert Eagle back in his holster and the killers were back in the car and heading back to Joey's garage.

With the Job done and a little money coming his way Deuce felt a little better about things. One thing still pissed him off "the phantoms" just who were they. The dealer was useless he didn't get anything out of him that he didn't already know. He doubted there would be any trouble the dealer wasn't big time and his leaders knew what he had done. It was a classic tale of someone who got to be too cocky and did something that got him killed if it wasn't by Joey it would be by his own for endangering them by bringing the wrath of the Leone family in this time of war. The garage had not changed there was just as many guards there and Joey sitting in his office. "Well Deuce how'd it go?"

"He's dead, and he wasn't very useful."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I asked him about these phantom fuckers apparently not even the lieutenants know who the leader is."

"Listen Deuce, I don't want you arming up in a personal war against these guys. They operate from the shadows and no one knows who they are, you go up against them and they'll take you down. I already got people working this and I got better uses for you, anyway here's the cash." Joey produced a stack of cash from his desk and tossed it to Deuce.

"I'll talk to you later Joey."

"Watch yourself now deuce."

Joel yet again was standing outside the office. Deuce looked up at him and took some bills from the stack. "I don't want your money."

"Then what do you want. Wait; don't tell me, you're gay."

"That's real fucking funny, but I just want to know if I can trust you." All this question did was piss off Deuce.

"You listen, I was forced into this, I didn't want anything to do with the gangs in Liberty and now that I'm in there's no turning back. I'm not going to fuck up what little safety I have nowadays by going against the family, so fuck you asshole because right now I don't give a shit if you trust me or not." He didn't have time for this; with the gang-war he had enough trouble now the local giant was questioning his loyalty. The blockage of the world outside the car by the car's sound system was something Deuce welcomed. As he drove he found himself worried, about Joel's lack of trust, about the phantoms, about Lisa. _This day is fucking with my head._ Thinking of all those movies and stories were the main character had to prove himself to someone, use all his resources to find the mystery enemy, and get the girl made him sick. He wouldn't mind a nice quiet life with a beautiful wife but he didn't need to be a hero and take on the Phantoms he just needed to survive, he decided to heed Joey's warning.

Switching through the radio stations he found a new radio. "In other news a Triad drug dealer was found dead in his apartment in Chinatown. He was found lying on his couch of death was several gunshots to the foul play is suspected." _No shit, dumb fucking reporters_. It was noon and Deuce was starting to feel a little hungry, and he knew where to go Phil's Bar. "Hey Deuce."

"Hey Phil, how's business been for you lately?"

"Good, but probably not as good as you Mr. Mobster."

"Jesus has everyone heard about that? Anyway I could use a little something to eat right now."

"What'll you have?"

"Some chicken strips, a side of fries, and a beer."

"All right I'll get it to you soon." The room was noisy as usual but it wasn't enough to block out the sound of the door opening. The approaching footsteps seemed to somehow break through the noise the bar patrons were making.

"How are you doing Johnson?"

"Jesus, how the hell did you know it was me?"

"Lucky Guess, so you come to bug me or collect a bribe for yesterday?" Johnson sat down next to Deuce his nice suit and gold designer watch all beyond a cops pay.

"Nah, those punks we busted yesterday had some cash in the car. But I would like to ask you about something."

"Ask me about what, that dealer that was killed?"

"That was less then an hour ago how'd you find out about it?"

"It was on the news on the radio."

"You better hope that's how you heard about it or else…"

"Yeah right Johnson, what are you going to do come down on me, your chief will find it a little suspicious that you're going after me and ignoring the big boys. Now I've been patient with you but you need to realize you can get in serious trouble for the bribes and a cop won't last too long in jail."

"All right Aprile, but I'm just saying."

"No problem, just remember cop that Liberty is run by the gangs so just keep in line and no one gets in trouble."

"Here's your food Deuce."

"Thanks Phil.'

"Well I can see you're busy so I'll leave, see you Aprile."

"Later Johnson, watch your back." Deuce in truth had no problems with Johnson he even considered him a friend. Sure he was dirty but he never got greedy like most cops did in fact it almost seemed like he didn't like taking bribes he was probably the only cop in town like that. Deuce could remember when Johnson was just a rookie. He only wished that the other cop didn't smack him over the head with a gun. Six years on the force had made sure that he took his bribes like the others but he still kept his good character that was an almost rare thing.

"Joseph Aprile!" Deuce got off the bar stool and looked to face the possible enemy. It was a girl about 5'8 with a petite figure long black hair; she wore a baby blue t-shirt under a black denim jacket and black jeans.

"What do you want you crazy broad?"

"I want you dead." The young girl charged at Deuce with a knife she produced from a jacket.

"Shit." Deuce dove to the side avoiding the blade by a few inches. With the bottle still in his hand he brought it down and smashed it on the girl's head, "What a waste of good booze."

"You asshole," hissed the young girl before she came back at him again with her blade. He grabbed her wrist and pulled it behind her back. "What are you doing, AAAAAH!" She screamed in pain as he twisted her arm which made her drop the knife. Deuce threw the girl to the ground and picked up her knife. "You know little girls shouldn't play with knifes. Before he knew it the girl was back on her feet and pulled a gun out from the back of her jeans. "DIE!!!" Things seemed to go slow-motion at that point for Deuce as he dodged to the side he threw the knife at the girl and it landed right in her thigh. As she began to scream in pain Deuce pulled the knife out of her leg and kicked her gun over to Phil. He looked down into the face of his enemy she looked like she was around seventeen he felt pity that on her. "I'll take her out of here Phil." Deuce picked the now passed out girl up into his arms and carried her into his car. _What did I do to deserve this shit, Can't even take a little pain and she's already trying to kill me._

_--------- _

As he rode back into his apartment he wondered just who this girl that attacked him was. Why had she attacked him, he doubted anybody have a young girl pulling hits for them. Even if the triad would have the balls to pull this why would they leave it to a young girl who was obviously an amateur, she didn't have seem to have that aura that killers have, she seemed more like the preppy type. It all just gave him a big headache, nothing in his life made sense anymore. Once he reached the complex he parked the car next to Misty's BF injection. Once he was inside he laid her onto his bed and pulled off her pants so he could get a better look at her wound. He grabbed the first aid kit from his kitchen he didn't know much but he it'd be better then just letting her bleed. Once he had cleaned the wound he stitched and bandaged her leg and then covered her up with a blanket and went to his couch to take a nap.


	7. Yuka Kasen

Chapter 7:

The girl woke up in a strange bed in a strange apartment. "Where the hell…" she stopped her sentence once she saw a picture of the man she tried to kill The last thing she remembered was the pain of her knife in her thigh. She looked and her wound and eyed the gauze over it. Once she tried to stand a pain a great pain hit her leg and she fell back onto the bed. _"Shit it must have gone into the bone_.**_"_** Whatever had happened it made it hurt like hell to stand. She got back up again ready for the pain and slowly walked around looking for a door. She took a quick look at the few framed pictures on a nearby dresser. One was a picture of a young teenage Deuce in what looked like the bar she attacked him in and he was wearing an apron. Another had a beautiful bride and her new husband standing in front of a large wooden cross. She looked at the final picture; there was a girl who looked like an older female version of him hugging an emberrased Deuce who looked like he was around twelve years-old.

She set the picture down and walked into what appeared to be the living room and kept going until she heard a voice. "You know I'm surprised you can walk." She turned to find her enemy sitting on his couch watching her, "I'm stronger then I look you sadistic bastard."

Wincing with every step she made her way to the door. "I wouldn't leave if I were you."

"And why is that?"

"Well that knife went in pretty deep so you can hardly walk, and this is Hepburn Heights, no exactly the safest neighborhood."

"So?"

"So, you're a young girl in a dangerous neighborhood, oh and you're not wearing pants." The young girl looked down and realized that she was in fact not wearing any pants.

"I knew that." She lied.

"Just head back to bed kid you're not going anywhere."

"And stay here with you, why?"

"Because I'm one of the closest things to a nice guy this city has. You go out there alone and unarmed, and… without pants, and you won't last long."

"So?"

"So sit down." Deuce pointed to an unoccupied chair.

"Fine, I'll stay." She sat down on the chair looking at Deuce who was eying her mysteriously. "What do you want?"

"What's your name girl?"

"Yuka, Yuka Kasen."

"Kasen huh, you connected to the Yakuza or something?" Asked jokingly

"Not ever since Toji Ikari took over." Deuce was honestly surprised; he thought the all of the prestigious Kasen family was wiped out when Ikari took over.

"So what exactly do you plan to do about it?"

"I plan to slit his fucking throat." Deuce just stared at her for the longest time until he started to laugh. "What's so funny?"

"You're what kid like sixteen?"

"Yeah what's your point?"

"Girls your age should be at school talking to her friends at school about boys and the prom and shit, and not planning on assassinating a fucking Yakuza boss, especially when you can't even take me on."

"Yeah well I never really got to have a normal life. I figured if I took you down I'd get some respect and those loyal to family would reveal themselves."

"With the family you were born into I'm not really surprised."

"You don't know anything about my family. So don't even think you can talk about them like that."

"Yeah well right now you're not exactly someone who has the right to tell anyone what they should or shouldn't do. Anyway right now I have to figure out what to do with you."

"Just let me go."

"Were you not listening? This ain't Shoreside Vale, you're in Hepburn Heights. I ain't just gonna let out on the streets. Where were you staying before all this?"

"I was staying with my cousin in Shoreside Vale, but I can't go back."

"Why can't you go back?"

"I said some things before I left, really mean things."

"Trust me kid if you apologize she'll take you back.

"Why can't I just stay with you?"

"Because you're sixteen and I'm trying to keep you out of trouble. If you stick around here you might not make it. I got enough to worry about in my life; I don't need a teenage girl thrown into the mix. Also you tried to kill me earlier. How would killing me doing you any good anyway."

"You've got a bigger reputation then you think Deuce, A lot of people know about what you did back when you were locked up." There was a long silence between the two of them that was broken by a knocking at the door.

"Hey Deuce open up man it's me 8-ball." Deuce got up to open the door all the while keeping an eye on Yuka. As he opened the door Yuka left the chair and looked over to see who this 8-ball was.

"How's it goin 8-ball?"

"Good, especially in comparison to you Mr. Leone hitman." 8-ball looked around the room but once he saw Yuka his eyes shot back to Deuce. "Would you mind explaining to me why you got a young Asian girl wearing nothing but panties and a t-shirt?"

"That isn't a girl that's a giant pain in my ass." Deuce turned back to look at Yuka. "Go get your pants and jacket we're taking you back home."

"Man, please tell me you didn't do what it looks like you did."

"Relax nothing happened, well something did just not that, anyway what are you driving?"

"I'm driving a '98 Landstalker."

"That'll work just fine."

"Wait why are we taking my car?"

"Because I'm really tired and I don't feel like driving, so for tight now you're my chauffer."

"I knew visiting you was going to be a pain in the ass." Just then Yuka walked out of Deuce's room fully-dressed.

"I'm ready to go, I guess." With that the three of them were off. Once they were outside Deuce sat in the front passenger seat and Yuka in the backseat. The Whole ride was silent except for the directions Yuka gave to 8-ball. They approached a nice mansion in some part of Shoreside Vale that Deuce couldn't see any joy in living there, a bunch of housewives with nothing to do but spy on their neighbors didn't sound so serene, Hepburn heights may have been hell on earth but at least Deuce got privacy. When Yuka got out of the car Deuce thought she would just leave but when she got out she walked over to his side where he had his window open. She kissed Deuce softly on the cheek, "I'm sorry Joseph." With that she was gone limping away and disappearing into the house blending back in with the false serenity that was provided by the world known as suburbia.

"Damn man I didn't know you liked them that young."

"Shut up 8-ball." Was all Deuce could say he had thrown a knife into a young girl who had apparently formed a crush on the hustler/mafia associate after he had killed a Triad dealer. As the car began to drive off 8-ball started looking over at Deuce.

"Where we going now Joseph?" 8-ball hardly managed to get this out between his fits of laughter.

"Home man, I've had a long day and I just want to go home drink some beer and then go to sleep."

"Sounds like a plan." The car drove off and as they reached Staunton Island the sun began to set

Deuce squirmed in his seat for a few seconds trying to relax and took a long hard look at the setting sun. "So how's my car coming along?"

"Better then expected man, we should have it ready for you by tomorrow."

"Have you fired that asshole yet?"

"Yeah I know he was being an asshole but business has been booming lately and I can't really afford to fire anyone."

"Was that supposed to be a joke?" Questioned deuce with a tone that showed he was a little annoyed

"My bad man, anyway I think you get the point."

"Yeah and the point is you got a fucking bad sense of humor."

"All right, relax man." The two men sat in silence for a while Deuce kept himself occupied by watching the pedestrians on the street.

"Hey 8-ball you ever wondered what we did that lead us to this point in our lives?"

"What point of our lives?"

"This whole career criminal bullshit we're living through."

"Not really, I mean everybody in Liberty has some skeletons in their closet, we were born here man were pretty much destined to become the assholes we are now."

"Yeah I guess, but sometimes it feels like I could have done something to keep out of trouble."

"Yeah well right now you pretty much don't have a chance of leaving now." Deuce knew 8-ball had a point there wasn't much either of them could do about their professions at this point in their lives. Deuce was never really one to believe in fate, he believed in god it always seemed to make sense to him, but fate was something he just didn't even acknowledge. He was the one controlling his life but lately it felt more like drunk driving making decisions that ended in disasters. He just wished someone would take the wheel for him. "Deuce we're here man." Deuce opened his eyes to see the apartment complex with and the usual people running around the streets.

"Thanks man, I'll give you a call sometime."

"All right watch your back man."

"Thanks 8-ball." The lobby was empty as usual except for Misty who just left the janitor's closet, followed by the janitor.

"Hey Deuce."

"Hey Misty."

"So where you been all day?"

"I've been around the whole fucking city. So is the janitor a good tipper?"

"That's what I like about you, you're always so funny." Misty said as she began to stroke his arm. "What do you say we go up to your place for a freebie?"

"No thanks."

"You know one of these days you're gonna realize what you're turning down, and then you'll be sorry."

"Of course a burning sensation every time I take a piss really sounds like a treat, now if you don't mind I'm going to go drink myself to sleep." The elevator was a testament to the building weathered, worn-down, and covered in graffiti. "Fucking toys." Once inside his home he headed straight for the nearest bottle of booze. "Nothing like a visit from my old buddy Jack Daniels," He mused as he poured himself a glass. His bed had seemed to become more comfortable over these last few days. The pillows that his head sank into seemed a better cure for his headache than any other pill. He closed his eyes hoping and relaxed that he would wake up.

------

AN: You can probably guess who the three mystery people in the pictures hopefully I'll be able to include them in some flashbacks later. Yuka Kasen is an actual GTA character she's from GTA advance and is a neice to Asuka i'm not sure who her father is it'd have to either be Kenji or another Kasen that wasn't mentioned they didn't reveal her age either from what I remember so i'm just gonna say she's sixteen. Soon enough you'll find out what Deuce did in jail that earned him that rep, and just who are the Phantoms? Special thanks to allof the people who reviewed what I put out so far even the Resident Evil fanfic, I really like hearing peoples oppion on my writing.


	8. Call me Toni

Chapter 8:

"Deuce, are you there? Pick up the phone its Joey." The sound of Joey's voice over the answering machine was the last thing Deuce wanted to hear. A good night's sleep is useless if you get a call like this in the morning. "Yeah Joey, sorry you just woke me up."

"Just woke you up, it's fucking noon."

"I like to sleep in."

"Whatever, anyway get over to my place in Saint Marks now." Once Joey had hung up Deuce slammed the phone back on to the receiver. He looked over his clothes quick and picked some out. He put on some baggy faded blue jeans, white tennis shoes, a black t-shirt, and a black flat-bill baseball cap. He had his thick brown hair drowning in styling to gel to make sure it would stay slicked back. He grabbed his keys locked his door and headed to loaner car from 8-ball.

As he drove through Saint Marks he could see already that the peace between the Leones and the Diablos was paying off. There used to be days where if the Leones were ten feet close to Hepburn Heights or the Diablos got close to Saint Marks then all nearby pedestrians would run for dear life from imminent exchange of slugs. They were still nervous but they dared to walk the streets. The new found friendship between them had seemed to create a sense of safety in Hepburn Heights and Saint Marks that had the citizens praying that it would last.

Again Deuce found the Leone mansion like he found the garage yesterday lacking security only now there were three Diablo Stallions parked outside. Not knowing what to expect Deuce treaded cautiously expecting some sort of an ambush. He found Joe sitting in the lounge talking with a group of Diablos. "Ah, speak of the devil; it's about time you got here Deuce. Come on sit down." Deuce sat down in a leather seat next to Joey.

"So what do you need me to do Boss?"

"We were just talking about that, you see…" was all Joey could get out before El Burro interrupted.

"Ever since we agreed to a truce the Triad have started hitting us hard. This morning we lost three men."

"So where do I come into all of this."

"I can explain that." Joey cut-in. "We recently found out that there's a place that storing a large amount of Spank and some cash for the Triad. You and El Burro's boy Rico here are going to go get it for us; once you bring it back here me and El Burro'll split the stuff right down the middle."

"What's the place?"

"That Punk Noodles over by the bank. I'd recommend you don't kill anyone it's under our protection, no need to get the other people who pay us protection nervous."

"All right, let's do it." The single Diablo that wasn't wearing the signature Diablos Jacket began to follow Deuce as he walked out of the house. He had a long sleeve black button-up shirt with the top few buttons undone revealing a wife beater and part of a tattoo, a pair of beige khakis and white sneakers. His black hair was cut short and he had a thin chinstrap beard, he seemed to be the same size as Deuce maybe a little more muscle but not much. "Rico, that's your name right." Rico nodded.

"We'll take my car. Are you packing?" Rico lifted his shirt to reveal a glock tucked under his Khakis. "All right let's go." As they walked to the car Deuce couldn't help but wonder why this guy was so quiet. "So, are you a mute or something?"

"Fuck you gringo," Rico replied. "_Well at least he replied," _Deuce thought as he got into the car. As he started the car he grabbed the pack of cigarettes off the dash board and pointed them towards Rico, "Want one?"

"No thanks I don't smoke, it's a deadly habit." Deuce laughed at what Rico said. "What's so funny?"

"That's your excuse for not smoking, that it's deadly? Let me tell you something kid, our professions are going to kill us before these will." Deuce said while lighting one of them.

"I guess you got a point." Rico admitted as he shuffled his shoulders making himself comfortable in the warm leather seats his Glock was now on the dash board. The sound of the blaring radio made him jump out of his seat. "What the fuck man?"

"My bad, I forgot how loud I set it." Deuce apologized as he turned off the radio creating absolute silence, that's the way the rest of the ride was. They finally parked in an alley that was at the border of the Red light district and Chinatown that gave them a good view of the area. Deuce sat in the driver's seat for what seemed like the longest time.

"Let's go." Rico said reaching for the handle to the door but he stopped when he felt a tugging on the collar of his shirt. "Just wait, see that kid over there." Rico looked over to see what looked to be a twelve year-old boy.

"What about him?"

"Notice the way he watches the people who walk near the diner, he's a lookout."

"So what so we do?" Rico asked eyeing the cell phone that Deuce held that seemed to come out of nowhere. As he watched the kid head to a nearby payphone he realized deuces plan. The ringing on the cell phone ended followed by the sound of a young boy.

"Yeah, what do you want?"

"The boss wants you to take the rest of the day off."

"Why?"

"They got a couple of buyers for the stuff so he doesn't need you to keep watch. He says he'll pay you tomorrow."

"All right." After that the boy hung-up and walked away looking out as is he was afraid that he was being watched. As Deuce watched him walk away Rico cocked his Glock.

"You packing anything…" was the only thing Rico could get out before Deuce produced a switchblade with an ivory handle. "I guess you are, so what's the plan?"

"When we walk in I'll shake one of the employees down watch my back and then I'll grab the stuff." Deuce said as he got out for the car. Walking down the street Rico did his best to keep up with Deuce and not look suspicious. The place was empty except for the staff including a paunchy old man in an apron standing behind the counter.

"Can I help you two?" The cashier asked while he was eyeing Deuce who was now vaulting over the counter. "What the…?" Before he could defend himself Deuce grabbed him and started beating the shit out of him and then he threw him to the ground. The cashier fearing for his life looked over to see the rest of the staff not moving he crawled over to the gun hidden under the counter, he started panicking as he was brought back up to his feet and bent over the counter. Before he could stand back up he felt a sharp pain in his right hand he looked over to see there was now a blade sticking through his hand. His screams of pain were cut short by Deuce's hand.

"Now I'm going to ask you once and if you scream I'm going to slit your throat got it?" The Cashier nodded in agreement, "Now, where is the stuff?" Deuce removed his hand letting the cashier give the answer. "It's in the oven, the busted oven you sick fuck. AAAAAAAH," screamed out the cashier after Deuce had pulled the knife out of his hand. Deuce wiped the blood off his knife on the cashier's apron Deuce smiled as he screamed in pain cursing Deuce. He walked through the kitchen and opened the oven with an out of order sign and found two canvas duffel bags. Deuce checked them to find the spank and the cash. "Yo, Rico it's all here."

"All right let's get the fuck out of here." Rico said lowering his gun and running out the front door with Deuce. The two men kept there cool once they left the diner walking calmly back to the car.

"Hold onto these Rico." Deuce said while starting the car, reality seemed to return to Deuce his hands started shaking and all sorts of voices rang throughout his head. He shook is head in an attempt to silence some the voices in his head.

"Here's your money Joey, and your drugs." Deuce said. Joey stared blankly at the bags then back at Deuce.

"Did you have any trouble getting them?" Joey asked. He looked inside the bags then took a few stacks and hand them to Deuce, they were all $100s held together with rubber bands and each stack looked to be worth ten Gs, _"I could get used to this." _Joey handed the bag over to one of the various goons standing.

"We ran into a little trouble, but nothing that could be taken care of to quickly." Deuce said reassuringly.

"Good. If you keep this shit up Aprile and you'll go far with us." Deuce nodded and headed out, he needed a drink. He stood out on the terrace for a few minutes looking at the clear blue sky then started for the car. Before he could reach it his cell phone started to ring. "_Don't answer the cell phone it's just gonna be more fucking trouble! Yeah just ignore it, get in the car, go to Phil's, and get to work on slowly killing your liver."_ Normally Deuce couldn't argue with the voices in his head but this time he decided to go against what they had to say and he answered his phone.

"Yo."

"Deuce, it's me Toni."

"Toni, how the hell are you doing, did the doc put you together right?"

"Yeah, anyway I'd like to talk to you, come and meet me down at my restaurant."

"All right I'll be there in a few minutes." Deuce hung up and pocketed his phone and then he started looking through his keys trying to find the one for the car. _"How the fuck did I get so many keys? Did I rob a fucking janitor or something? I don't even know what a third of these keys are for."_ His hands began to shake and the voices started again, frustrated he tossed the keys to the ground ripped off his hat and hit the roof of the car. _"What the hell am I doing with my life? I can't even handle going through keys."_ He took a deep breath and ran his fingers through his hair desperately trying to calm himself down. He picked the keys back up and went back to looking for the one that would start the car.

Toni looked the young would-be associate over. "So has Joey told you how things are going to go down from now on?"

"Not really." Deuce said. He wished he knew what Toni was talking about.

"You did all right kid. Joey's impressed and that means you've got a job." Toni got out of the leather lounge chair that matched the rest of his furniture in his office. The main components were black leather and oak. "You work for me now kiddo. You do all right by me become good earner and who knows you may just get made. Hell it only took me less then two months." He reached into an oak box and handed a cigar to Deuce and then took one for himself

"Sounds like you got more confidence in me then I do." His words almost came out as a mumbling thanks to the fact that part of his mouth was holding the cigar as he lit it.

"Don't worry kid you'll be fine as long as you keep a clear head and a powerful piece. Anyway I got something for you to do before you head out. 8-ball put together a little something for me and I'm gonna need you to pick it up and drop it off. Get this done then head home and try to wake up before noon because we got work to do tomorrow and I'm not gonna wait for you to wake up."

"All right Mr. Cipriani."

"Call me Toni."

-----

All right I finally got Toni back into the story, so for now Deuce has a steady job with the Leones. The next chapter will be a little shorter. As always thanks to everyone who reviewed I really appreciate it.


	9. No more bitchin'

Chapter 9:

"Hey 8-ball what the fuck is taking you so long?" Screamed Deuce, he had been waiting for 8-ball to come back out of his workshop with whatever it was he was supposed to pick up.

"I found it come inside."

"Whatever." Deuce mumbled. He walked into the little workshop and found 8-ball sitting in front of a table, he pointed at an aluminum suitcase, "Is that it?"

"Yeah open it up." Deuce did as he was told and opened up the suitcase.

"Holy shit, you got to be fucking kidding me!" The everyday suitcase that rest on the table was holding one hell of a bomb it looked like it could take out city hall. "What the fuck does he want me to do with this monster?"

"I don't know he's got a note for you though."

_Hey Kid,_

_I know its short notice but I need you to do something for me. There's a factory in Trenton the Bitchin Dog Food factory, I need you to blow it up. The owner's in serious debt and has decided to take the insurance money and run. Also an old associate of mine is very big in the real estate market and wants to buy the land after the owner sells, I'll make a great profit making sure both of those things happen No one should be there but the security guard and he's been paid off. Just show up and he'll let you in, plant the bomb and detonate preferably from a good distance. Do this right and there'll be a nice payday for you._

_Toni_

_PS: burn this once you read it._

Deuce took the lighter out of his pocket and lit his instructions on fire despite 8-ball's protests. "So are you done with my car yet?"

"Yeah we just finished today I think you'll like what we did."

They had done a little more then what Deuce had expected. They didn't just take care of the bullet holes but added some new chrome spinners and run-flat tires. "You're trying to get all the cash out of me that you can aren't you?"

"Well we figured with a new well-paying job you'd be able to cover a few modifications. Plus if you ever feel the need to give the motor some real bite you could always come by."

"How much do I owe you?" Deuce went through the cash Joey gave him and took a guess at how much it would cost.

"Five Gs give or take a hundred."

"Just as I thought, I don't know why I let you rip me off." He handed 8-ball the cash and keys to the loaner car.

"You're lucky do you know how much I usually charge for rims that nice that ain't stolen?"

"I don't feel too lucky, so I'm assuming it's so expensive because you got that stuff I asked for?"

"Yeah it's in the trunk I'll show you." He opened the trunk and pulled out a blanket "Here it is." Deuce looked down and smiled and then looked back at 8-ball.

"How the hell do you do it?"

"Sometimes I don't even know."

"All right cover it up and close the trunk and I'm out of here." 8-ball covered up the stuff with the blanket and slammed the trunk. As soon as the trunk was closed Deuce took off like a bat out of hell. All the garage employees started laughing and pointing at 8-ball as he watched Deuce drive off. All of a sudden he could feel a cold breeze hitting his stomach he looked down at his shirt to see a large hole where his shirt had caught in the trunk. "GODDAMN IT!"

Deuce was driving down Saint Marks blasting Game FM he forgot just how powerful his system was, as far as he could tell they had improved it, the car really seemed to turn easier to._ "8-ball must have done something more then he told me."_ Deuce decided not to bring it up next time he saw 8-ball, as long as he got his money's worth he was happy, _"Never look a gift horse in the mouth."_

It took a lot of time but Deuce got to the factory planted the bomb and was now situated in his car getting ready to set off the bomb. He had to wait for the guard to get out of there, _"Why the hell couldn't he have left when I did? I better get some good cash out of this." _That's when it hit him. _"I need to start putting in work, bringing in some cash otherwise I'll never make it. I still got my stash and the kilo I didn't sell; it could be a good start. I'll need something more solid though, drugs are always a gamble, and protection ain't my thing. Fuck it something will probably come along soon."_ The sound of a beat up '98 Mannana taking off broke his train of thought. He held the detonator and looked at it, it looked like an everyday item, or maybe it just looked like that to him, maybe he was losing his humanity. He rested in the seat and pressed the button concentrating his vision on the factory. The building collapsed beautifully although he could only see a part of it because of the wall. _"I think I'm starting to like this shit."_

AN: All right, the update is shorter then usual but it should do for now it might be a bit longer then usual for my next update. So pretty soon Deuce should start working on his income and becoming a decent earner for the family and hopefully the story will get moving faster I don't want to rush this story and make it lose it's quality but I do want to get it finished hopefully by next fall. Anyway for anyone who wondered what was in the trunk of the car you'll just have to wait and see.


	10. A calm before the storm

A calm before the storm:

Toni Cipriani was the last man to fuck anyone should fuck with in Liberty City. Most people thought that because he was getting on in years he may have grown weak, but that was absolute bullshit. Nothing could make him weak, for a while his weight made him slow but he lost it and gained back some strength. Even know he felt like he did back when he was Deuce's age he just wished Deuce was a little more punctual then Toni was back then. He put his fist up to knock but something felt strange decided to try and open the door, _"Why's the door unlocked?"_

He drew his Python and decided to test his luck. He moved in slowly making sure that if anyone was there he'd get the jump on them. He stopped for a moment then cleared his head and kept walking heading towards the bedroom. He quickly turned the corner, and for some reason he felt no threat, Toni put his gun away and walked into the bedroom casually. Deuce was sitting in his bed cleaning his gun for the day his Jericho 941 he had changed the barrel so it would now use .45 ACP rounds. He quit cleaning it looked at Toni for a second then went back to cleaning, "Sorry, Toni I guess I lost track of the time."

"Don't worry just get dressed we need to get some things done and introduce you to a couple people so you're probably gonna want to wear something more then just your boxers. I'll wait out on your couch." Toni plopped down on the couch then sprawled himself on it to get comfortable. Deuce seemed to have gotten dressed in no time. "Damn kid that was fast. Well, let's go."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Who's driving?" Deuce asked as he took a look at Toni's Car a black Hellenbach GT while Toni checked out Deuce's outfit it matched Toni's outfit which he named his "Goodfella" outfit. Deuce's outfit was similar only his shirt was red, wasn't tucked in, and his shoes were brown.

"Me, no offense kid but no one else drives my car."

"I prefer to ride anyway." Deuce got in the car and took a look at the interior black leather and wood grain. "Not bad Toni."

"So kid I've been wondering do you have any family around here." Deuce leaned back in his chair and looked up like he had to think hard.

"You'll have to excuse me for a minute my memory is messed up, some mental trauma bullshit from when I got locked up."

"How bad is it?"

"Not too bad, all the important things like who people are and important moments from my life are still there but there are years of useless memories gone so it's kind of hard to remember shit because of the fucking gaps. Anyway my mom died in a car crash and my sister disappeared after I got locked up." Deuce dug through a pack of cigarettes in his shirt pocket and pulled out a cigarette.

"What about your father?" Toni could tell he struck a nerve Deuce's grip on his smoke suddenly tightened making him rip his cigarette. Toni was just a little curious when he asked the question now he was curious as hell.

"My so-called father ran out on us when I was ten. He was addicted to booze and junk so I think it's safe to assume the bastard is dead, scratch that I hope he's dead. He didn't give me a fucking thing my whole life but a reason to be angry and a booze addiction. The only physical thing he left was divorce papers signed wherever he had to." Deuce looked at the cigarette and tossed it out the window then grabbed a new one from the pack. "So where are heading to Toni?" The first drag of the cigarette gave him that all too familiar pleasure of the mixture of Menthol and Nicotine.

"We're going to go pay a friend of mine a visit over on Staunton Island."

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Henry Johnson sat at his desk looking over random files over a few of the suspects for the murder of the dealer over in Chinatown. _"What a pain in the ass, I can't believe they stick me with this bullshit." _He kept going through the files looking them over memorizing the criminal record and short bio of every suspect thanks to his photographic memory. _"Who thought good memory could be a curse? Why do they put these goddamn biographies for all these guys anyway"_ The file he was on at that moment was on a mafia associate by the name of Joel Bartelli.

_Born in Vice City to a Cuban mother and Italian father Joseph Bartelli was born into crime. His father was a small-time crook who eventually became a hitman for Tommy Vercetti; his mother was a sister to Cuban crime boss Umberto Robina. Both parents were assassinated by Haitian gang members. His parent's death and a fight between Joel and his younger brother motivated Joel Bartelli to leave Vice City and coming to Liberty City. Once he arrived he found work as a mechanic at Joey's Garage and eventually became an associate to the Leone Family._

"_That's probably one of the more interesting bios I read today." _He moved on to the next file and took a look at the familiar scarred face of Joseph Aprile,_ "Fuck it, I need a break."_ He got up from his desk and walked past the other detectives desks through a long hallway and walked into a room the officers in the precinct referred to as "the pit" there were a worn out couches, a TV, some beds, and a few tables with chairs for the cops to sit in. Except for a detective napping on one of the beds Johnson was the only one in there. He walked up to the coffee machine and poured himself a cup then headed over to the couch. "You leave any coffee?" asked a voice with a drowsy tone. Johnson looked over and saw that the lump on the bed had finally woken up. "Yeah Fogerty there's at least a cup left." Johnson said before he took a sip from his own cup. Fogerty was a pretty decent cop, one of the few like Johnson who didn't care for the corruption that plagued the police force but eventually got caught up in it nonetheless.

"So how's the Goterelli case coming?" Fogerty said.

"Wouldn't know the higher-ups decided to move me to a different case, right now I'm working that bullshit case down in Chinatown." Johnson said whilst flipping through the channels before settling on the local news. Fogerty walked over to the couch and sat down by Johnson.

"Chinatown, you mean the dealer that got killed?"

"That's the one."

"Shit, no good evidence, a multitude of suspects good luck with that you're going to fucking need it."

"I know," He took another sip of coffee, "Personally I don't think I'll be on it to long I think they're just trying to keep me busy at my desk going over pointless files on random suspects until they finally find me a new partner."

"Who do you think it'll be I bet you're hoping for that new broad with the huge tits?"

"Cindy Wong?" Asked Johnson, there were two new female detectives that he hadn't gotten a chance to personally check out but according to the vast majority Cindy Wong was apparently smoking hot.

"Yeah that's the one; I'm telling you she's got one unbelievable body. You'd be one lucky son of a bitch."

"Yeah it'd be the first time in my life something worked out for me." Footsteps, that's what the both of them heard, they snapped there head's back and watched the other detective walk in, then immediately looked forward playing it cool.

"That's her man," Fogerty said under his breath.

"She's fine as hell." Johnson replied the took yet another sip of coffee acting unaware of the beauty that was walking towards him

"Are you Johnson?"

"Yeah that's me, what do you want?"

"Chief wants to see you and Fogerty."

"Shit, come on Johnson let's go see what that old fuck wants." Fogerty got up from the couch with Johnson right behind him. Cindy waited till she was sure they was gone then started laughing to herself, _"The idiots don't see what's right in front of their faces. If the rest of the cops here are that dumb this will be either then I thought."_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Hellenbach slowed to a crawl and finally stopped in front a large skyscraper. "Hey this is Love Media, what are we doing here?"

"Remember the guy I mentioned who's big in the Real Estate industry?"

"Yeah, you're telling me that you know Donald Love?"

"Unfortunately I do, back when he ran for mayor I helped him with his campaign but the media found out and it cost him the race. Eventually he lost everything and I helped him get it back. Come on let's go pay him a visit, just don't make any sudden movements and avoid any words like freak or dead, and for the love of god don't agree to go to a morgue party and don't eat anything he offers."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"WHAT?" Johnson's screamed, he had risen from his chair and was just bout ready to strangle the police chief that stood in front of him. Chief Jarvis had been on this force along time he had started out a young nervous wreck from Shoreside Vale that was out to change the way the police force worked, now he was just as if not more crooked then any other cop in Liberty City. When it all started he would be so nervous that he was sweating buckets whenever and Internal Affairs agent would show up or whoever was paying him at the time ran into some legal trouble, now he was so powerful and arrogant there was no need to sweat just collect another bribe.

"You heard me you're gone, off the force, fired, you got the boot. Hand in your gun and your badges both of you." Johnson was utterly shocked by all of this while Fogerty seemed to be amused.

"You can't just get rid of us without a good reason."

"With all the budget cuts we've been making we had to kick a couple of are detectives with low arrest rates to make room for the new two. Plus Internal Affairs fell onto you guys, they promised not to press charges if you both were kicked of the force quietly and no questions asked. So clean out your lockers and your desk and get the fuck out of my office"

"Bull-fucking-shit, there's no way they'd let us off the hook and just ignore a crooked bastard like you."

"They would if he's the one who turned us in." Fogerty chimed in; he knew the score from the time the chief had told them they were off the force.

"So that's it, you fucked us over to save your own ass; YOU'RE NO JUST A DIRY COP YOU'RE A FUCKING RAT!" Johnson grabbed his badge and gun and slammed them both on the table but no physical action could show just how pissed he was. It didn't matter Jarvis had seen so much one pissed off detective wouldn't scare him as long as he wasn't staring down the barrel of gun, if that was the case he would suddenly become that sweaty rookie had thought had died long ago. Fogerty decided that Johnson had pretty much spoke for both of them he left his badge and gun and followed his former fellow officer out of that dirty rat's office.

"So what are we gonna do now?" Fogerty asked looking back at the office and then he began to shake his head, this was too much to much bullshit for one day.

"You got anything you need doing tomorrow morning?"

"No, nothing I can think of."

"Good I know a good bar over in the Red Light District."

"Johnson, are you serious?" Fogerty asked shaking his head, "All right but I'll out drink you like you were little bitch?"

"Well let's just see if I can't make you eat your words."

Once the two of them left Cindy Wong managed to sneak her way into Chief Jarvis' office. "So they're off the force for good?" Jarvis watched the new detective take a seat in his chair and stair at him with skeptical eyes.

"Of course what do you think I am some kind of fucking retard?"

"As much as you charge you better not be, speaking of which here's a down payment." She pulled a stack of bills from her jacket and put it on the table next to Johnson's gun and badge.

"That looks light."

"Tough shit you'll get more when you actually do something for us."

"The two cops I fired where on Leone payroll."

"So were you that's why it's light we're going to have to start protecting you to make sure your old wise guy buddies don't try anything, or you could bitch and whine to Joey Leone I'm sure he won't kill you probably just cripple you for life. Now I've given you two options take the money or go back to the Leones what's your choice?"

"I'll take the money."

"Good and fair warning something's going to go down that'll keep the Leones busy for a while but I'll need you to make sure that our guys walk away from it when the smoke clears."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Donald Love was currently sitting in his office looking over a file on his computer "Toni, it's great to see you it's been forever."

"Yeah, but unfortunately you had to call me."

"Don't be such a kidder Toni, both of us will be making plenty of money off of this; now tell me who the new lad is?" Donald was genuinely intrigued usually Toni did business alone, in fact there was only one other man who Donald had seen with Toni when he conducted business.

"The name's Joseph Aprile but people call me Deuce."

"Deuce, that's a splendid name. So I'm guessing your Toni's latest student."

"I guess so, who were the others."

"Other," Toni corrected, "I've only shown one other guy the ropes I prefer to work with experienced guys. Speaking of which I'd like to keep this meeting short I've got something else to take care of."

"Of course, but are you sure you wouldn't like to stay for something to eat."

"No, it's a real pressing matter so if I could just get the money we'll be on our way."

"All right if you're sure, I'll just be a minute." Love stepped out of room and got on the phone, when he was out of ear shot Deuce asked Toni a question.

"What's wrong with his food he a bad cook?"

"No he's a cannibal."

"You've got to be fucking kidding me!"

"Nope, he's a Necrophiliac to."

"Where do you fucking meet someone like him?"

"I helped him when he ran for mayor in '98, then I helped him get back his fortune after he pissed it all away on his campaign." Toni straightened back up as soon as Love came back into this room.

"Well it's all set Glenda down in the lobby will give you your money, you'll have to make sure you can stay longer next time, Arrivederci Toni."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Cindy Wong had lost the comfort of her new desk that gave her a smug sense of satisfaction over the misfortune of that fool Johnson for a stiff chair in a therapist's waiting room. "Officer Wong," Called out the therapist, "I can talk to you now." His words somehow managed to get through the closed door.

The room largest wall in the room seemed to be almost completely covered in random degrees and awards for Dr. Antonio Lopez. He was a man in his early thirties that had made his peace with the fact that he would probably live his life alone due to his dedication to his job. His love for his job was formed by a year where a government program had him treating violent convicts and after a yard fight he had the pleasure of treating Joseph Aprile.

"I looked at your record, it's pretty impressive, there's one patient you treated in particular I'd like to talk about, you might remember him, does the name Joseph Aprile ring any bells?"

"Joseph, yeah I remember him he was one of the more interesting, usually in jail you get the guy who clearly belongs there and then you get the weak guy who makes you doubt the local police force, no offense."

"None taken, what made him so interesting?"

"Well the thing about him was he was one of the classic troubled good guys." He could see the confusion in her face. "He was a nice guy but he, well he had tendencies I've only seen in some cold-blooded killers. He was nice, understanding, loving the kind of guy your parents would want you to date, he had a concept of guilt, and hated confrontation he liked things to go smooth but he also had a part of him that had an utter hatred for those he considered his enemies, the best way to put is he was a nice guy who got caught up in bad situations and he was just too loyal."

"Too loyal, that's not something you hear often in this city."

"Yeah, he was also incredibly, well it's heard to put into words."

"Just try."

"When he did choose to get into a confrontation it was like he became someone different, he was incredibly savage. I started treating me after he got into a fight with a member of a Nazi gang Joseph beat him within an inch of his life."

"What did they do to Aprile?"

"Well as soon as his victim was out of he tried to rape Joseph. If you've ever seen a recent picture of him you'll what happened." Cindy thought of the picture of Aprile in his file the scar was the first feature she remembered.

"The Nazi gave him the scar?"

"Yeah he may have cut Joseph's face but before he could rape him Joseph got the upper hand and once again beat him but this time he killed him."

"Shit, so what did they do to Aprile?"

"Nothing, it was a clear case of self defense I'm sure the Nazi gang was angry but he was running with the biggest gang in the prison. Anyway I asked if he'd like to go on medication but he refused."

"Why?"

"He didn't like the concept of every person's problem being solved through drugs; he also told me that his family had a history of substance abuse on his mother's and father's side. From what he said he was already battling an alcohol addiction."

"Were then any other violent incidents."

"There was one on the day he was released but they couldn't connect him to any of the deaths so he was released."

"They released him even though he could have been involved in multiple murders?"

"Yeah there was a massive riot and it ended up wiping out a lot of people I think the final count was somewhere around sixty, anyway most of the victims were members of the Nazi gang and the one that Joseph ran with."

"What gang was that?"

"They were called the 'Cell Block Kings', Joseph's one of the few members that are still alive." That was a gang she was all too familiar with hearing about them still gave her chills up her spine. "The others are all serving life terms and running with different prison gangs."

"You said the riot wiped out two gangs that have to be one big fucking riot especially since one of them was t, there's only one that could be that big, the riot in the summer of 2003. How did a 'nice guy' survive that?"

"Like I said, he gets incredibly savage when he fights, I wouldn't be surprised if he not only had fought but he could have easily had a victim count in the double digits, but the damage was just unbelievable so he just moved on."

"You didn't say anything to anyone?"

"Like I said he likes things smooth, even if he did anything it'd be a hard sell with all the victims."

"So they just let the killers go?"

"It'd be a pain in the ass for them to investigate so they just pointed fingers and boosted sentences of people who probably didn't have anything to do with it, welcome to the American Justice system."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"_That sound, the motherfucking sound of the doors, in that goddamn hell hole. That bastard Gruber, I still have the scar you have me you sick fuck. That place didn't make me learn any fucking lesson it just made me a killer." _The place still haunted him and always would, the scar he had was a permanent reminder. He couldn't forget the riot though as much as he wanted to he couldn't, up until then he had killed only one man and that day the day he gained his freedom back he killed twelve people. The last one was the one that stuck with him, most of his shiv had broken off in his eleventh victim and before he knew he was up against the Nazi's chief enforcer a massive man who was all muscle he was also the cop that Deuce fought and got him in jail he eventually was revealed to be dirty bastard he was and ended up in jail for posession. He could still feel the bastard's tight grip on his neck as he strangled him, yet somehow he managed to get out of his grip despite the seemingly imminent death, _"Oh yeah, I took what was left of my shiv and shanked his fucking eye then I beat him to death." _He wished that shit like that was what was wiped from his memory.

His wife stuck out in his mind Lisa Johansen, she was a sweet thing just a few years older then Deuce how she ever ended up with a husband like that cop sill puzzled him. He felt like he had to admit to her what he had done, why her incarcerated husband was no dead. Somehow he ended up sleeping with her and she killed herself the next morning right in front of Deuce. He couldn't say he loved her but he felt something for her it was one of the things that haunted. Every person he ever killed deserved it, but this innocent woman had killed herself because of what he had done he felt guilty about it to this day, she still entered his thoughts from time to time.

He could still feel it, the pain he felt the day he got that damned scar. Two slashes that would forever mark his face he may have been cut fast but that didn't stop it from hurting like fucking hell. The pain went a way for awhile after Deuce beat the bastard to death but it came back pain like that always did.

"Hey kid, kid wake up." Toni was trying to shake the sleeping Deuce awake but it just wasn't working. _"This kid sleeps like he's in a fucking coma." _Toni decided the current matter was more important than Deuce's rest, "WAKE UP GODDAMN IT!" Needless to say the screaming in his ear snapped Deuce out of his state of slumber.

"Jesus Christ Toni!"

"Sorry I had to interrupt your beauty sleep but we got one more thing to do." Deuce cracked his neck and looked out the car's window trying to recognize his surroundings but he was lost.

"Where are we?"

"We're still in Staunton kid got someone else I want you to meet he runs things for us here." Toni got up out of the car while Deuce lied in his seat thinking this it was some kind of joke. "Kid get out of the fucking car right now, I ain't got time for this bullshit."

"My bad I thought you wanted to take care of it on your own."

"That seems to be a real recurring problem in my life to many assholes that wait in the car while I do the work."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Johnson and Fogerty two dirty cops who had just gotten fired were now slamming back shots of whiskey at Phil's Bar. "I'm telling you Fogerty I should have put a bullet in that old fucker Jarvis." Johnson had already hit the point where when a person should be whispering they were practically screaming.

"Ah don't let that mothafucka get to you he's just a dirty old… what's the word I'm looking for?" Fogerty had been slamming back just as many shots as Johnson but he was a different kind of drunk he was the kind who denied just how drunk he was no matter how obvious it was. "Anyway as fun as dis is we got to find sumshin we can do to make money."

"Fogerty man you're slurring in your speech man you're wasted."

"I'm not drunk i'm fine I'm i'm i'm i'm god-fuckin-damn it you're right I'm royally fucked up maybe I should stop. Fuck what am I gonna do." Fogerty didn't have much to life his parents were dead he was single and he was broke. "I guess I'll end up going back to Vice City, I should probably head back and pack."

"Fuck that man we ain't got shit to do tomorrow might as well live it up." Johnson poured himself another shot but then looked at the bottle, _"Fuck it."_ Instead of drinking the shot he chugged the remaining contents of the bottle. "Man that shit burns going down can we get another bottle of whiskey over here."

"No man I don't know how much more hard shit I can handle."

"Forget the whiskey bring us two beers."

"Well Johnson nice to see you're doing what I'm paying you to." Johnson didn't have to look back to see who it was even when he was drunk as hell he could recognize that raspy voice. He took the shot and then he took a deep breath.

"Yeah about that Deuce, Fogerty and I kind of got kicked off the force."

"What?" There was a voice Johnson didn't recognize, he would have looked to see who it was had Deuce and Toni not taken some seats and the table. "Fogerty you want to tell me why you're off the force."

"Oh hey Toni, about the whole getting fired thing you see they found out Johnson and me were bein' naughty." A waitress came to the table with two beers and put them on the table. "Naughty cop I'm just a naughty cop." Fogerty had started slapping himself, not hard but enough to move his head back and forth.

"I think he's had too much." The waitress said. She grabbed Fogerty's beer and put it back on the tray. She really got sick of guys who had nothing better to do but come in get drunk and then hit on her. Fogerty was acting like he had taken one to many hits to the head smelled like a brewery and was already eyeing her up, she just took a deep breath and walked away with his beer.

"Hey, she took my damn beer." He tried to get up but his inebriated state and Toni grabbing him by the shoulder kept him down. "Fuck it, I'm feeling pretty good."

"You guys need to quit right now."

"Ah come on just one more drink for the road."

"Shut the fuck up Fogerty you're probably an inch away from dieing of alcohol poisoning I'm taking you back to you apartment." Toni grabbed Fogerty by the back of his jacket and pulled him up. "Come on you drunk bastard walk." Fogerty did as he was told and sloppily walked out of the bar it seemed like a miracle that he could walk.

"Well Deuce it looks like your going to have to find yourself a new dirty cop."

"Yeah I guess so; well what are you going to do now?"

'I don't know but I got this feeling, like this is all for the best. I guess I could probably find a job as a mechanic."

"You're a mechanic?"

"Yeah I got the schooling and shit but I just couldn't find work so I became a cop."

"I think I may have a place you can work."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Goddamn it Jim if I didn't need you working here I would have kicked your ass out a long time ago. Get the fuck out of my office and get to work." 8-ball wasn't lying mechanics seemed to be pretty rare in Liberty City and with the sudden increase in business he couldn't afford to fire anyone. Jim was rude to the customers, always late and whenever he did anything he did it half-assed which usually made more problems for all the mechanics. Right now he had pushed 8-ball to the point where he was thinking about crushing in Jim's skull with a wrench.

"8-ball need some help?" 8-ball put his wrench on the table and reached into his cooler and pulled out a beer.

"Yeah I wouldn't mind someone kicking Jim's ass either but right now I need all the help I can get. Anyway you want a beer?"

"No, I got a mechanic to replace that rude asshole you got working for you."

"Are you serious?"

"Yeah he's not exactly in a state to give and interview right now but if he's half as good with cars as he is with his last job I don't think he'll give you any trouble."

"All right now I just got one more thing to do then." 8-ball set down his beer next to his wrench and picked up his phone. "Lou it's the boss tell Jim to come back into my office." 8-ball picked his beer back up and took a big swig, "You sure you don't want one."

"Yeah, I don't really think I'd be able to keep it down." His stomach felt fucked up he knew why to, a cannibalistic necrophiliac it sounded so fucked up in his head it probably was true.

"Lou said you wanted to talk to me boss."

"Yeah Jim you're fired now get the fuck out of here."

"What?"

"You heard me, get the fuck out of here before I kick your ass."

"Fuck you 8-ball I don't need this fucking job." Jim stomped out of the room and ran off to his car.

"You sure you could just fire him like that, what if he talks to the cops?"

"Relax he's just some spoiled kid from Shoreside Vale he'll probably end up working for his dad this job was just a way for him to rebel."

"Yeah but the thing is the guy who you just hired might not be in the best shape tomorrow."

"Hey if he really wants a job he shouldn't have any problem coming to work hung over. Now you sure you don't want that beer?"

"Sure what the fuck I could use a drink."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Skull was a kid who at one time had nothing, no car, and no home, no cash just the clothes on his back and his birth name Jack Sabina, his parents where French Immigrants who were killed when there apartment building burned down. He spent the early parts of his life in an orphanage in Portland then when he was twelve he ran off looking for a new life. Now he was twenty-one and was just a little more muscular than average, he stood at an even six foot and shaved his head to show off the tattoo he had gotten at thirteen a skull and cross bones on the back of his head. Even though he made what little money he could from mugging people and occasionally holding up a liquor store he spent his nights usually sleeping on a park bench or wherever people wouldn't bother him. Then he started working for the Phantoms, he didn't exactly have the American dream but the ends were meeting like a motherfucker. Things were going good until just a few hours ago. He found out that his friend Luke was dead he'd be alive if it wasn't for that fucking cop.

They should have Killed Deuce when they had the chance now Luke was dead. It should have been him especially after what happened at the heist. _"Skull look out!"_ His voice was still familiar in Skull's his head as if he was still there but in truth he was a fucking corpse and now Skull's head was throbbing and he was out of booze, the bag of junk was laying on his table just looking at it made him twitch and gave him that famous Junkie shuffle. He had been clean for a bit now, thanks to Luke. He stared at the bag and then started to massage his temple he couldn't believe what he was doing but he needed a fix more now then ever.

He pulled out the leather case with the tools he was familiar with. He tied down his arm and struck up a vein his tread marks were still there. He held the syringe in his hand he took a deep breath to calm down and stop his hand from shaking. Finally that accursed needled pierced his skin once again and he got that feeling of relief he got every time he stuck that needle in his arm. It wasn't an affect of the heroin just the rush from his own adrenaline which was soon followed by the effects of his most powerful vice. He sat back in his chair and then closed his eyes embracing the silence in his apartment except for his phone. _"Who the fuck is calling me, can't I get some peace?"_ He scrambled off his chair and grabbed the phone. "Yeah it's skull." He had to focus and listen closely to the words over the phone it was stronger then he thought. "I got it, no I already got something when do you want it done?" He listened again then looked at his arm the syringe was still in his arm. "A.S.A.P, will tomorrow work?" He pulled the syringe out and put it back in the leather bag. "I'm just not in the best state of mind right now I just found out about Luke a couple of hours ago, anyway I'll take care of it tomorrow." He put the rest of his stash in the case and hid it under his chair. "Don't worry I can take car of it myself, bye." He hung up the phone and headed to his bedroom grabbing his leather jacket from his closet, he'd take care of his business the business tomorrow tonight he'd head to a strip club to try and forget his sorrows.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Author's Note: All right another chapter is finally done and you know what Deuce Did in Jail and how he got the scar. Originally I planned for Deuce's prison experiences to be left a mystery until I wrote it as a prequel, then I decided to condense it to a chapter or two and now it's just a short flashback/conversation. It's not as good as I'd like it to be but I think it works, tells you what you want to know without dragging it out. Anyway Lisa is and interesting character, originally I had intended for her to be a love interest for Deuce, ultimately I didn't like her as a character and scrapped her but I unfortunately left in a part that mentioned her in Chapter 6 (Go ahead check it out if you don't believe me), So when I saw this I brought her in but changed her around a bit.

Her background stayed the same even the one night stand with Deuce which just sounded crazy even for me so to make sure I didn't bring back in I changed it so she killed herself. It seems sad but I just felt that a woman fucking her husband's killer and falling in love with him sounded a little crazy so it got changed, suicide might not sound any better but it seems to me that It fits better in a sense that her husbands death left her lonely despite how much of a bastard he was and made her reach out for someone which in this case was Deuce but nothing could take away her pain which led to her suicide. I'm actually happy with how this turned out because now instead of a love interest she's one of the things that haunt's him the most his only innocent victim. I also intended for Deuce to have never met his father but I remembered in one of the previous chapters I mentioned that he went to Phil's bar to get away from his parents so I had his father leave later in life after I read through the story again to make sure (See the things I do for you guys). Also for those of you wondering Phil's bar is not owned by Phil Cassidy, I wrote it down as Phil's bar because I forgot about Phil Cassidy despite how interesting a character he was and how good a job Gary Busey did in Vice City.

The same goes with Skull, originally I planned for him to get his ass kicked by Deuce but then he ended up working for him which also sounded to crazy and I scrapped him until I needed a character to play one of the people working for the Phantoms so now I've changed Deuce's sidekick to his enemy and I like how it worked out.

Fogerty was a character I came up with after I had most of this chapter finished I decided I needed at least one more cop to be fired. This way instead of just a Leone associate's cop being fired one of Toni's got fired. If you couldn't tell Fogerty came from Tom and John Fogerty from Creedence Clearwater Revival the chapter title is also a reference to one of my favorite CCR songs "Have You Ever Seen the Rain" I used it cause even though to Deuce seems things seem to be going smooth, things are happening that are going to lead up to something big hence "the calm before the storm" at first I also had Deuce playing "Have You Ever Seen the Rain" in his stereo. As for the number of Deuce's victim I know it's a little iffy that he would walk away from killing so many people but it's not impossible, I guess that's what you get from a story that was written by someone who has very little faith in the American justice system.

I'm sure there's plenty of spelling mistakes so I apologize for that, I also apologize that I didn't include The Leone Capo who runs the Staunton Island operation I'm not quite done with his background so he will appear later on just not now. As always thanks to those who reviewed. It'll be a while before the next chapter so I apologize to my few consistent readers (I'm personally surprised anybody likes my shit). Wow including the Author's Note this chapter is over 6,500 words, no wonder it took so long. By the way don't ask me why Deuce's door was unlocked in the beginning I put it there and just didn't feel the need to change it (guess I'm more lazy then I thought.) I should probably stop writing this other wise I'll never get to the next chapter.


	11. Damaged

Damaged:

"You're watching MeTV coming up next we've got Damaged, watch these horrid and yet hilarious accidents. Cuts, scrapes, and bruises those are for pussies, we've got broken bones, concussions, and kids smacking metal and concrete so hard it splits their skin open. This young skater thought he could ride his skateboard on this rail. Needless to say he didn't quite make it and landed flat on his face." Deuce was a little disturbed of the image of the young skater smashing into the sidewalk face first, and yet he was amused. "When he got up he found out that he had landed on the broken-off bottom of a beer bottle that was now in his face." The video then focused to the skater so scared he couldn't breathe but his gasps for air were covered over by a series of beeps, apparently his friend had a colorful vocabulary.

"Then after that it's Total Control, the show where over bearing parents have retarded kids who can't realize that they're not only in a bad relationship but there are obviously other fish in the sea. I mean come on we got plenty of girls looking to hook up with these little pretty boy pansies. Also if it's a girl she can go as far as banging the guy as long as it isn't here current boyfriend her parents don't give a damn. You know what I don't think I can do this shit anymore, no fuck the FCC I can't do this shit anymore. How do we get away with putting this fuckin shit on TV? Son of bitch I can't even look at myself in the mirror any more." The Channel then cut off and then the words "PLEASE STAND BY" popped up.

"Well that fucking figures," Deuce mumbled. He picked up the remote and moved on to the next channel.

"What a surprise Liberty City has yet again come out on top in a study of the most violent cities in America, we were closely followed by Vice City. Attorney Tom Johnson went on 'Vice City News' to give his opinion." Then image on the TV changed to a Man in a suit standing at podium.

"Yes, there is no doubt in my mind that Video Games are to blame for the massacres in these cities, any questions?" Johnson then pointed to a person in the crowd not shown by the cameras.

"Yes, what do you have to say to people who say that you're just using tragic events to push your own agenda and trying to present a solution that wouldn't solve the problem?" The look on Johnson's face switched instantly to pure red anger

"I bet your one of those game masturbators like the one that did this. Fuck you, you retard gamer, you're a worthless piece of shit and you should be killed in the most painful way."

"Listening to you babble is painful enough for me." Deuce said then turned off the TV and got up from his couch. He slipped into a pair of fade blue jeans, a white wife beater, grabbed the jacket he had bought just last night a leather four button blazer, then put on his aviator sunglasses and headed back into his bedroom. He looked at the floor searching for a small hole, "There it is." He pulled out a few floor boards and then crouched down to get a look at the floor safe; he took his time carefully putting in the combination. Once the safe was open he looked through the safe shuffling through weed, a few guns, ammo, and silencers until he found what he was looking for. He grabbed his double shoulder holsters, each on held an IMI Jericho 941 set to use .45 ACP rounds. He grabbed his jacket then put it back on while he headed out the door, "Hope two pieces will be good enough."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Skull was sitting patiently in his car getting his head clear. He rested his head and practically tried to sink into the seats. The flashbacks had started again and he was wishing he hadn't left his kit back at home. It was probably for the best anyway his employers would probably prefer it if he was sober for this. He checked his Glock 18 and put a bullet in the chamber then slid a silencer on. He looked at the gun once again he had written something on it last night, the words were in silver. He got out of his car and started walking down the sidewalk; his gun was tucked in his pants.

The people that walked by Skull as he made his way made sure not to bump into him. Something about him seemed to trigger a nerve that made you uneasy, when you saw him you knew some shit was about to go down. He kept walking keeping his focus staring at his target occasionally take a glance to the side re the back to make sure he wasn't being followed. He reached the door of a small convenience store that had obviously seen better days. When he opened the door a bell rang and just that would have made most of the men in his position shit their pants but he just kept it cool with his eyes on the man at the counter. _"Empty, just the way I like it."_ He walked up to the counter and started tapping his fingers along with the music stuck in his head.

"Can I help you?" The cashier asked while thumbing through a porno mag.

"Give me a carton of Redwoods and a lighter." The cashier put down the magazine and eyed Skull; usually he didn't get a lot of skinheads coming in for cigarettes in the morning. In his experience most guys like Skull cam in on a Friday night looking to start some shit. He turned around despite his instincts and picked out the cigarettes and a lighter.

"Man I can't believe people can actually smoke these…" His sentence was cut short when he felt the barrel of a gun brush up against the back of his head.

"You know why i'm here."

"The Phantoms sent you? What about my Money?"

"You're lucky they decided to let you live. Now where's the cash?"

"Under the red tiles, there's a hole you can pull to lift them up." Skull backed off and walked over to red floor tiles. He looked them over and spotted the hole. "Find it?"

"Yeah, put the carton and lighter on the counter along with the cash in the register and the safe."

"What makes you think I got a safe?" Skull fired off a few rounds that whizzed by the cashier's head barely missing him, barely. "All right i'll do it." He put the Redwoods on the counter along with all the cash in the register. When he knelt down to open the safe he suddenly remembered the gun in the safe. _"Should I do it? If just I kill him and take the cash then the Phantoms will kill me for sure. Maybe I should just kill him leave the cash and run, no they'll still kill me, I'll just let him have the cash and I'll be fine."_ He had the safe opened faster then he thought he grabbed the few stacks from the safe and put them on the smokes. He looked at Skull and saw that he already had the bags out and still had his gun in his hand.

"Turn around." The cashier did as he was told. Now he was staring at the clock on the wall trying to keep his mind off the crazed gunman behind him. He heard the carton slide against the counter and then he could hear Skull stash the cash and smokes in his jacket. And then he was gone, the cashier's eyes were closed in fear put he could hear his boots against the tiles and then the bell to the door. He opened his eyes and took a deep breath to relax himself.

"Psych." His whole body stiffened for a second then he turned his head. By the time he saw who it was he was as good as dead. The shots were silenced but it didn't matter because at that second he only had one sense, sight. He looked up at the mirror he had set up on the wall and in his final seconds the cashier watched himself die. "All this trouble to get some fucking cash laundered, just who the fuck am I working for?" Skull asked himself then he tucked his gun back in his pants picked up the bags and walked back to his car.

XXXXXXXXXX

Toni sat in his car looking at the various shops on the Saint Marks streets he was on his way to a Leone run casino to collect his take of the action for the week. His cut for everything eventually ended up collected by a Leone soldier. Right now he was taking notice of the Limo that stopped next to his car the tinted windows blocked out any possibility of seeing the passengers it intrigued him. All of a sudden his cell phone went off, he pulled it from his jacket and looked at the number, "Unknown Number." He decided to answer it anyway. "Hello."

"Hello, Mr. Cipriani." The voice was sounded like the caller barely had any signal.

"Where are you? You sound like you're going through a tunnel."

"Oh that, I just want to make sure my identity stays a secret you see a lot of people for some reason want me dead."

"So you're asking for my help?" Toni asked whoever was talking to him.

"No you see, you happen to be one of the many men who wants me dead." That explained it. "I'd like to talk to you about your new business associate, Joseph Aprile."

"What do you want with the kid?"

"I want him gone Mr. Cipriani, you see he poses a great threat to those who work for and with me. I'd be willing to guarantee that you and your new allies will not come under attack from any Phantoms." Toni stayed sat there in silence thinking it over. "I can see your intrigued Mr. Cipriani." That solved the mystery of the limo for Toni.

"Fuck you Toni Cipriani doesn't sell anyone out, if you even try anything I'll come after you fuck your promise. I guarantee you that if you mess with him, me or any Leones you, your associates and all you underlings will fucking die slowly you got me."

"Why do you protect a lowly associate so much Mr. Cipriani, when you could protect everyone else in your organization, just hand him over to us."

"What's the matter, can't you and your phantoms can't handle one man?"

"I think the better question is whether you can handle him."

"Fuck you cloak and dagger."

"All right Mr. Cipriani, you've made your decision." With that the Limo sped off and turned a corner and disappeared from Toni's sight.

XXXXXXXXXX

Deuce Slipped in through the door labeled "employees only" without as much as a glance. It was nice to know that people knew when they went to this restaurant to keep their fuckin eyes on their food. He walked up the stairs slowly trying to listen to see if Toni was pissed. All he could he was some laughter from a voice that seemed familiar and yet strange, _"Maybe I know 'em but I haven't heard him laugh, that wouldn't be too surprising."_ He got to the door and opened it and walked in then he took a look at Toni's visitor, _"Guess I was right."_

"Hey guys."

"Hey Deuce," Toni replied while his visitor stayed silent. "You already know Joel here don't you." Deuce looked at Joel, sure they knew each other but that didn't mean they liked each other. Toni grabbed a bottle from his liquor cabinet and poured a few drinks for his guests and himself.

"Yeah, we've met." Deuce sat in the chair next to Toni and took the drink that Toni offered him, then looked at his outfit a black suit with a white shirt and no tie, a little cliché but nice none the less. Joel was wearing a pair of khakis with brown leather dress shoes and a gray polo shirt with all the buttons undone.

"Good cause I got a job for the two of you." Deuce didn't mind some more cash but things would get complicated with Joel around. He was pissed when Joel wondered if Deuce was a man he could trust but honestly Deuce didn't know if either of the two could trust each other even if Joel was Joey's personal errand boy.

"What do you need done Toni?" Joel asked.

"You guys ever heard of Jimmy Fu." Both of them nodded everyone in Portland had heard of Jimmy "Cleaver" Fu he was the Triads most dangerous enforcer. Anyone who owed the Triad lost countless nights of sleep from nightmares of that one man. His nickname came from the day when a butcher in Chinatown owed the Triad big money and Jimmy came to collect. When the butcher refused to pay Jimmy Beat him down and then later he chopped whole family up with the butcher's meat cleaver ever since then very few dared to fuck with Jimmy Fu. Well lately you may have noticed that the Triad has yet to sick Jimmy on us. I did a little digging and I figured out why. Turns out the warlord he's working for is looking to take power and to do that he wants to put Jimmy in as one of the three warlords. Jimmy is like a son to the bastard so with Jimmy in place it'll be no problem for him to take over."

"You want us to take him out?" Joel asked it seemed like he was a little eager to spill some blood.

"No, as much as I'd like him to be taken down we can't afford it."

"They're already hurting us; wasting Jimmy would be like trying to put the fire out with gasoline." Deuce explained.

"Anyway I got an Idea on how to slow down Jimmy want you to do is take over his gambling racket."

"How are we gonna do that if we can't take him out." Deuce asked while Joel stayed silent though he wanted to ask Deuce just beat him on the draw.

"Jimmy's a really bad gambler, So Deuce I want you to bet this." Toni grabbed a large brown paper bag and tossed it to Deuce. "It's your cut from the factory job; Joel here's your back up for the day."

"What if the cash you gave me ain't enough?"

"Improvise."

XXXXXXXXXX

One short drive and bribe to the doorman later and Joel were inside Jimmy Fu's casino. The place wasn't nesciallary worthy with the small size and lack of a gambling license. The place was crawling with men looking to get lucky whether it'd be at the tables or with the girls dealing cards or serving drinks. Considering the fact that a lot of them were Triads, it was a miracle Deuce wasn't already dead they all seemed to be focused on the money or the women two of the most powerful vices in life.

Deuce and Joel walked through keeping the vision mostly focused on the Blackjack table, Jimmy Fu's table. The table was clear except for Jimmy who sat the shuffling a deck of cards waiting for someone to challenge him there were no takers all day until now. 'Listen Joel just let me do the talking."

"Why the fuck do you get to talk?"

"Cause it's my fucking money that's being bet." Both men approached the table and took a seat Jimmy just kept shuffling his deck. "How's it going Cleaver?" Jimmy stopped shuffling his deck, he knew it was Deuce only he would have the balls to come here, he took a good look at Deuce, he had heard plenty of him but he had only seen him once, he needed to just how much he had changed.

Jimmy pointed to Deuce's scar, "Nazi gave you that, right?" Jimmy's voice was almost a whisper it fit his demeanor he was pretty muscular but he was short standing at 5'6" but he could still rumble with the best of them. His jet black hair was just a little shorter then Deuce's, "I was there when you beat him down the first time, I got out a few days later so I never saw what happened later." The smoke seemed to compliment his white double-breasted designer suit with his black leather dress shoes and a blue silk shirt underneath

"Yeah he gave me the scar but I wasted him."

"I know why you came; you want to take control, that's always what Leones want. I know that too well I got my time in the pen because I was going to try and stop your new boss Toni. The cops pulled me over and found the gun and had no problem locking me up for two years. You got five for assaulting a cop right?"

"Man what are you my fucking biographer."

"A man his doesn't know his enemies might find it hard to guess their next move. So I guess you're here to start earning for the Leones so you don't have to be their little bitch anymore." Deuce was amazed, this guy knew his stuff. He had heard Jimmy was one tough son of a bitch but he had never heard that he was smart. "So what do you want to do shoot me, I fucking dare you Deuce."

"No," Deuce pulled the bag out opened it up and poured the money on the table. "I came to play." Jimmy took a look at the cash and started to laugh first it was soft then he couldn't contain it anymore.

"You're going to more then that this ain't no nickel and dime operation." Deuce sat there watching Jimmy laugh in his face. This cash was no chump change and now he was being laughed at for nothing, he loosened up a little and prepared to draw one of his guns, _"Improvise."_ For once the voices in his were giving him good advice.

"All right Jimmy," Deuce reached into his jacket which then triggered every Triad there to pull out their guns along with Joel who kept his trained on Jimmy. "Relax everyone." Deuce pulled out what he reached for, the keys to his car. "One hand of Black Jack you win and you take my cash and my car, it's a Sentinel in great shape and sitting on some new 20 inch spinners, if I win I take over this place with no trouble from the Triad, deal?"

"It's a Deal." Jimmy would gladly take the money and car from the fool who sat before him. He shuffled the deck and started dealing the cards.

XXXXXXXXXX

Skull sat in his car letting the engine run, he was looking at the writing in his gun. He stepped out of his car and started walking down the street. He immediately took notice of the sentinel parked in the street, _"Not bad."_ He kept walking down the street and then turned a corner coming face to face with a man standing in front of a barred door. He took a look at the simpleton of a guard who gave him a puzzled look. He handed him the guard a small wad of cash, "I came to play."

XXXXXXXXXX

Author's Note: Another chapter is done and submitted yet again I managed to make another character for the story, I'm going to try and hold back on the OCs(other then the ones already made up, just not put into the story yet) for the sake of getting the story done. For those of you wondering yes eventually I will reveal what's written on Skull's gun. The title of the chapter is one of the titles of the show and Skull's mental state.

The shows should be pretty simple to figure out, basically this chapter actually just started as me writing down jokes and eventually I decided that this would be a good way to start the chapter and get out my opinions on "Scarred" and "Parental Control". Scarred is a show I can actually watch the thing is though I get a mixture of pain from watching these guys nearly kill themselves and yet I find it funny. The bottle in the face thing was a dream I had based on the fact that I have the worst luck and my friends want me to Skate with them. Parental Control you can probably guess my opinion on that show so I won't feel the need to go into depth.

I don't have much else to say for now so thanks to all of the people who've reviewed my stories, I'd find it a lot harder to do this without you guys.


	12. A losing hand

A Losing Hand:

Cindy Wong's shoes clacked hard as the made contact with the street. She was walking down the street her long black hair was done up in a bun at the back of her head. She just kept walking down the street despite the stares of male pedestrians and jealous women. Her suit was black as was her shoes and her shirt was red. She walked up to the door and walked in without any trouble, then she made her ways up the stairs and walked into the casino, she really wasn't liking how her day ended up. "What the fuck?" She had her gun drawn before anyone could aim at her.

"Who's the chick?" Asked a man who Cindy was able to identify Deuce, she recognized another man at the bar as Joel Bartelli. Jimmy Fu was a few feet away to Deuce and Cindy was standing directly behind a man she couldn't identify until she saw the tattoo on the back of his head, she had heard a story about him that disturbed her. Deuce and Jimmy each had a gun aimed at each other and Deuce had his other gun aimed at Skull who had his aimed at Deuce while Joel and Cindy were both aiming and Skull. "You know Jimmy now that this place is mine I'm going to fucking fire your doorman." No one laughed at Deuce's joke they just kept their eyes on whoever they were aiming at which proved to be a bitch for Deuce and his neck. "That was the deal right, I win the hand and I win this place."

"Yeah." Jimmy replied simply, he didn't want to think or even talk about how he lost right before this strange skinhead walked in and started a Mexican Standoff after everyone else had ran out.

"That's what I thought the thing is though right now we got a problem. Personally I don't have any beef with you if it weren't for our bosses we might even get along, right?" Jimmy laughed a little but didn't let it break his concentration. "Well right now I know that this guy wouldn't mind if we were both dead."

"Just get to the point Leone errand-boy." Jimmy said.

"How about for now you, Joel, and me forget about the beef and just worry about this guy." Jimmy said nothing for a few seconds and stood strong, then uddenly he aimed for Skull.

"Sure, but I get a guaranteed safe exit."

"No problem." Now everyone in the room had their guns trained on Skull but somehow he kept his cool. He just made a swift move and grabbed Cindy she quickly dropped her gun when she felt his pressed against her temple.

"Everyone drop their guns or the bitch gets it." Nobody did as they were told.

"No offense, but I think I speak for all of us when I say 'so fucking what.'" Deuce obviously didn't care about the life of the woman and neither did Joel or Jimmy. "Honestly man, how fucking Cliché is that anyway 'or the bitch gets it' come on man. You know what, just get the fuck out of here we ain't got time for this."

"Sorry Deuce, but I got business with you, I can't just leave." Skull said.

"All right Joel give this asshole a reason to leave." Joel fired a shot that just barely missed Cindy and nicked Skull in the shoulder. He dropped his hostage and fired wildly so he could have some cover for his escape. All three men took cover and didn't get back up until they couldn't hear Skull's steps. Once they got up they looked over the damage to the place. The mysterious woman who had been taken hostage had now disappeared from sight, "How the fuck did she do that?"

"Well Deuce I guess it's time for me to go to, this is your place now after all." Jimmy walked up to Deuce and extended his hand. "What's the matter Deuce? Can't you shake my hand?" Deuce took his hand and shook all the while with a smirk on his face.

"You do realize that the next time we see each other it probably won't be on friendly terms?"

"Yeah, so let's try and not to bump into each other anytime soon."

"That's the plan for now." Jimmy walked out of there looking around the place, at least all this shit went down after he lost it. He disappeared down the stairs and eventually they couldn't even hear his steps. "Well Joel it looks like I've got myself a racket." Deuce grabbed the Blackjack table and turned it back up, he and Jimmy had taken cover with it when skull came in. Joel was at the bar pouring himself a drink from one of the few bottles that Skull hadn't shot.

"Man I was lucky." Joel said before he emptied the glass in one swig.

"Why?" Deuce asked while he picked up his cash and keys from the ground.

"That I had a shot that didn't hit the woman."

"You know Joel I wasn't kidding when I said I didn't give a fuck if she died, you could have taken them both out."

"You didn't care Deuce, but I did. I don't want innocent blood on my hands." Joel was as solemn as he could be, he may be a gangster but he didn't want any part of the business were he had to kill someone who didn't have it coming.

"Well personally I don't anyone who would just stroll into a place like this is innocent."

"Good point, maybe if I get another chance I'll take her out."

"Something tells me Joel that one of us might get that chance."

"But what if she doesn't deserve it."

"Well Joel then you'll be haunted for a long time, for the first few weeks you might not sleep and you'll have nightmares for a long time but you'll get use to it." The two men just stood in silence, then Joel poured another drink and handed it to Deuce.

"Did you get used to it?" Deuce took a sip of his drink.

"Somewhat, I have yet to kill myself so I guess I'm dealing with it."

"How?" Deuce rose his glass and shook it. "Man, that's unhealthy."

"So is working for the mob." Deuce finished his drink and slammed the empty glass on the table. "Anyway right now I got to worry about getting this place fixed up, it's all bullet holes and clean up so it shouldn't take long."

"I know where we could find a few guys."

"All right, right now I just want to wait for this headache to go away."

XXXXXXXXXX

"So how are things working out?" Joey was sitting at his desk in his family home counting each bill of the stacks individually, few things gave him such pleasure.

"Good, I just sent Deuce to take over Jimmy Fu's place, that place should be bringing us in some cash soon enough, though knowing him there'll probably be some damage to the place." Then Toni pulled a silver tube from his jacket and handed it Joey, "Let me tell you I may be a famous mobster but these Cubans are still a pain in the ass to get."

Joey pulled his cigar from the tube and inspected it. "Not bad."

"Anyway we got bigger problems then cigars." Joey lit his cigar and went back to counting his money. "I got an interesting phone call today, looks like those phantoms aren't too happy with us and Deuce in particular, so I got to wondering just how far off from being made is Deuce."

Joey just kept counting the money in the stack individually until he finished, "If I were to make him right now you and I both know there's a lot of out of guys in the family who had to work real hard to get where they are. They'd be pissed if he got made after just a few days and right now that's not what we need. Besides we got guys still paranoid from when my dad ran things."

"So what if we show them that he deserves it." Toni wasn't too happy about making anyone this fast either but the phantoms seemed to understand how the family treated attacks on made men, it might just save him. "You and me both know that Deuce could really help us out a guy like him doesn't come along everyday and we both know what he can do." Joey and Toni had both heard the stories, the story about the heist and bits and pieces of his days in jail.

"I know but like I said we got guys who won't be too happy if we do it, and you know how we do things all promotions are decided by you, the other capos, and me.

"So how about we give them some faith in the kid, we have him take care of a few big things and get him a little respect." Joey wasn't too eager about the idea he didn't think Toni would normally suggest anything like this but Toni had yet to do wrong by him.

"All right but how would we do it?"

"Those Phantoms are causing trouble for the whole family, and we still got trouble with the Triads, the Yakuza, the Yardies, and the Cartel but we ain't got no turf near them so they shouldn't be the biggest threat. The truce between us and the Diablos was a great idea but it won't last unless we get this taken care of."

"So what is Deuce gonna have to do."

"I think we should leave that up to the other Capos."

XXXXXXXXXX

"So where are you from Deuce?" Both men were sitting at the blackjack table playing against each other. Joey was dealing and he had lost about a grand.

"Me, I was born and raised in Hepburn Heights, hit me." Joel handed Deuce another card. "So where are you from Joel?"

"Vice City."

"Vice City huh, what are you doing here then?"

"My parents are dead, and my brother seems to hate my guts, the only reason I had to saty was my job, so I left."

"What was the job?"

"The same bullshit I'm doing now, it was for my uncle though," Deuce didn't really think it mattered for who he was working for but he kept silent. "Sometimes I feel like this is why God put me on this earth, just to be a fucking bad guy."

"Well they do say that God works in mysterious ways."

"What about you Deuce?"

"I feel like I might have had a chance, but it was slim to none. I like to believe that I'm still generally a good guy I've just managed to get myself in a lot of shit, hence the tattoos" Deuce could see the puzzled look on Joel's face so he took off his jacket, his holsters, and then his shirt. He showed him the angel on his chest and then the "Fallen Angel" on his back.

"Holy shit, I noticed the Tribal one but I didn't think you had that many."

Deuce slid his shirt back on but left his jacket and holsters on the floor. "You got any?"

"No, I've been thinking about one though." When they were both happy with their cards Joel flipped his hole card it was a ten which meant that with his two eights he busted. "Fuck, I lost again." Deuce, was laughing, he had won with just two sevens. "Hey Deuce just what did you have that beat Jimmy.

"Well when he was done dealing I had two nines and he had a ten, a two, and his hole card. He flipped it and it turned out to be a ten." Joel winced, he had come close to winning like that before but the stakes were never so high for him as they were in that game. "So if he hadn't hit he would have won."

"He lost because of a deuce?"

"Yeah, fucking spooky isn't it." Joel nodded and started dealing again he was determined to at least get his money back.

XXXXXXXXXX

Author's Note: Well that's it for this chapter at first I wasn't sure if I wanted to reveal the hand until later in the story but I felt this worked for an ending for the chapter. Don't worry, Jimmy will return as well as Skull, Rico, and Cindy soon some new characters will be introduced to and I'll go further into depth on Phil. Right now it seems as though Deuce and Joel are getting along and things are going good for Deuce.

I know that it's unlikely that Deuce would be on his way to being made so soon but things need to get moving on this story and if he really wants to prove himself then it should lead to some really good action. I know the whole info on Joel wasn't anything new to the readers but it's new to Deuce and soon I should give him some more time in the story.

Anyway I noticed lately that people have been changing there facts around in their stories and have started including characters and Locations from the upcoming GTA 4, I won't be doing that with my story. I respect the writers that have done it but I built this story around the older model for Liberty City and that's where it's gonna stay.

Next Chapter I'll be introducing a new character and giving some other characters more time in the story. As for my other story for now I'll say this, it'll revolve around two inmates in a prison set somewhere I haven't written for yet, there'll also be a new gang I came with for the story I scrapped, they won't have as big as a presence as in the other story but they'll be there. The main character from the scrapped story may be included but it's not for sure now, the story should still be shorter then Deuce's Tale though, and that's all I'm revealing for now, so don't ask for anymore info.

As always thanks to everyone who's reviewed so far.


	13. The Condition

The Condition:

Deuce was disrupted from his slumber by the ring of the cell phone; he had never noticed just how loud the fucking thing could be. "Yeah."

"What the fuck happened last night kid."

"Toni, what are you talking about?"

"The fucking damage to the place." The memory of an armed skinhead suddenly popped into Deuce's mind.

"Uh yeah some psycho busted into the place right after I won it, Joel said he'd take care of it."

"When?"

"Tonight, is that okay?"

Toni heaved a heavy sigh, "Yeah I guess I figured that you'd find some way to do serious damage."

"So is there anything else that we need to talk about?" Deuce asked.

"Yeah do yourself a favor and head to that new Collars N' Cuffs up in Saint Marks tell them I sent you and they'll just charge me, get a nice suit and meet me at Sex Club Seven." Deuce held the phone even after Toni had hung up.

"_Have I ever even worn a fucking suit?"_ Deuce was still wearing his clothes from yesterday after about an hour and a half of blackjack Joel and Deuce had gone to Phil's and got drunk off their asses, Deuce couldn't even remember how he got home. He took a quick shower and put on whatever clothes were clean he figured he wouldn't be wearing them for long.

XXXXXXXXXX

Deuce walked into the Collars N' Cuffs eyeing the entire place, there was no one there but one employee a woman who looked to be around Deuce's age. He had never been in places like this his main concern was always making sure he survived not how well he dressed. Immediately the woman started looking Deuce over, most of her attention was focused on his raggedy pink shirt and jeans that had seen better days. She snickered which made Deuce how ridiculous he looked, _"When the fuck did I buy this shirt?"_

"Busy day huh?" Deuce asked.

"Did you come here to buy something or just crack jokes?"

"Uh yeah sorry about that, anyway Toni Cipriani sent me."

"Oh, so I guess that would make you Deuce, Well come on and we'll get you fitted."

"All right be careful though I'm ticklish."

"What did I say about the jokes?"

"Sorry."

XXXXXXXXXX

Toni sat in the office in Sex Club Seven right now he was trying to haggle with one stubborn asshole. "Come on Mickey why are you being like this, you know how hard it is now."

"No I don't know because I've been too fucking busy working my ass to get to Capo after all these years, it took me two goddamn years to get made and now you want to make this little asshole after a few fucking days, what the hell happened to you Cipriani."

"What the hell happened to you Mick, you of all people should know how hard it is in this business, besides like the family was that hard on you."

"What?"

"Oh don't fucking act like you had to work your ass off, you were an enforcer for a few months then you got made and after that it was easy sailing for you, a few jobs here and there other then that you just acted as a bodyguard for Luigi and took a job as 'co-manager' everybody knows that you just love to tell that bullshit story to impress people."

"Bullshit, I'm bringing in serious money, I'm the guy who got us in big on the spank scene, when the triad started moving in on our turf who made sure they backed off, and I was there every time someone was made. Now you want me to agree to this little fucker being made, what has he done all his life other then hang out with the niggers and spics."

"You want to say that again Mickey?" Both men looked over to see Deuce his hair had been gelled and slicked back. The suit he bought had a black three-button blazer, a black shirt, black pants, black leather dress shoes, and a black tie, Deuce called it the "Midnight Suit".

"You heard me, and don't think I forgot having to throw you out of this place." Toni looked over at Deuce who had taken a seat next to him.

"What, the girl they had on main stage was pregnant, I had to say something." This brought Toni's attention to Mickey.

"Hey picking the girls wasn't my job, besides that doesn't change the fact that you made her cry she quit work after you emberrased her like that."

"First of all I was drunk, second that just means she might have gotten a respectable job so she could raise that kid."

"Oh like you know anything about 'Respectable Work' Deuce."

"The same could be said about you Mickey." Both men were visibly pissed however it was visible that Mickey was that most angry between the two of them.

"Both of you need to calm down, now look we've got enough trouble out there with our enemies so how about the two of you try to get along."

"Whatever." Deuce replied.

"No, fuck the both of you this is my club and my turf now both of you get out of here." Toni tried to say something but Mickey simply pointed to the door and turned his back to them.

XXXXXXXXXX

"I hope you're fucking happy, there goes are chance at getting you made."

"Fuck him he's just some little bitch who managed to get further in life then most people like him do. How the fuck did that guy make it all the way to captain anyway?"

"Trust me we didn't exactly have any better options."

"Right now I'm just glad I work for you and not that asshole." Toni was flattered but he was still pissed he was trying to do Deuce a huge favor and he didn't seem too grateful for it. "Anyway we'll be able to win him over later, that was what this was about right winning over one of the capos so I can get made."

"Yeah, I'm trying to keep you alive."

"Why are you pushing me being made so hard?"

"I got my reasons." Toni was a mystery to Deuce. Why did he feel the need to have him made, why was it so important? "Where's your car?"

"I took a taxi."

"All right we'll take my car, and I'm driving."

"Where are we going?"

"Staunton Island."

XXXXXXXXXX

Jimmy was driving down the roads of Chinatown keeping his eyes out. He was driving a black '92 Jester thanks to some hard-earned blood money it had a lot of power under the hood. Right now he was out to whack someone he had known for years so his boss would forgive him, needless to say he wasn't happy that Jimmy lost his gambling racket.

The blackjack game was still playing in his head. The look on Deuce's face when he realized he had won pissed Jimmy off to a point were he was lusting for blood he hadn't felt like this for a while now. He turned a corner and kept driving down the road looking out for his target. He was another Triad that had turned snitch Jimmy knew him for years and had done plenty of jobs with him, that's probably why Jimmy was doing this. Jimmy had killed plenty of men but they had been his enemy this time it somewhat bothered him the operative word being somewhat. He understood loyalty and this unlucky son of a bitch had just turned snitch he just wished he knew who he snitched to if it was the cops he'd be in protective custody and Jimmy would've been arrested by now. He looked closely over at the basketball court there he was just standing there as if he knew it was coming. Jimmy parked his car and walked up to him casually.

"Hey Jimmy, so they sent you to do it."

"You know John?"

"Yeah, that's why I did it if I snitched I knew someone would do it.

"You did it because you wanted to die? Why the hell didn't you just off yourself?" John starting walking to the nearest bench and Jimmy sat down right next to him.

"I figured at least I could have some impact on someone's life."

"I don't get it."

"It was me, I told Toni Cipriani about the gambling op, about how our boss is trying to get you promoted to war lord."

"Why?"

"Like I said I wanted to affect someone's life."

"But why mine?"

"Who said it was your life."

"It's Deuce?"

"Bingo, back when I was locked up I saw him, I saw him in a riot it was horrible."

"We've all heard the story, personally I heard he's a pushover, I've seen it to he just wants everyone to get along."

"Yeah, but you haven't seen him when he's angry, he's another person, he's absolutely fucking crazy, and now he's well on his way to being made. Do yourself a favor Jimmy, stay away from him."

"I can't promise anything, especially to a dead man."

"I'm not so bothered by it, like I said I want this I'm tired of killing Jimmy, I'm ready to die." He got up and started walking slowly, "But then again." He grabbed Jimmy by his jacket tossed him to the ground and then he was off running for freedom.

"What a fucking idiot." Jimmy drew a Glock 17 and aimed closely before he fired. A single slug hit his target in the back and it took him down faster then it took Jimmy to fire the gun. He got back up and started walking up slowly the target turned victim was still crawling and now he was screaming out, "My Legs, I can't feel my legs!"

"Don't look for sympathy from a cold blooded killer, you're the one who taught me that if I remember it right." Jimmy put another round in his leg but he got no reaction. "Guess I really did paralyze you." Jimmy looked over quickly and spotted a gun on the ground John must have lost it when he fell. He shot his former friend in the left hand and he screamed out again in pain. A twisted smile slowly crept up on Jimmy's face and he shot John again in the right hand.

"You fucking sick bastard." That ended the fun for Jimmy and he shot John in the head.

XXXXXXXXXX

Max "Shark" Fonti was in charge of the Leone's operation over on Staunton Island. He stood at six foot even and weighed about 250 lbs of solid muscle. He was 35 and had brown eyes, a light brown complexion and kept his black hair cut short. As a soldier he managed to get the turf for the Leone's himself in one day so when it came time to pick who was in charge of it all it was a no-brainer that he'd be bumped up to Capo. The day before was a complete bloodbath the Yardies had called a meeting between themselves and the Yakuza regarding the rumor that the Leone's would be moving in on their turf Max and a few other guys got word of the meeting and crashed the party. When he got there Max found out it was a set-up the Yardies killed the ten Yakuza who showed up.

Max showed up earlier then the others to find out that they had set him up as well, at that time he was the Leone's most feared enforcer. Somehow he managed to kill all the Yardies, once word got out it was easy for him to march in on the Yardies and Yakuza and take over some turf the day after. All he had to do was whack a few powerful Yardies and Yakuza in one day, no big deal for one of the Leone's most notorious butchers. However probably one of the things he'll most be remembered for is what he did to the three men who betrayed him, by the time he was done with them it looked like a shark had used them for chewing gum.

"So let me get this straight, you want me to agree to this guy being made, after just a few days." Toni and Max were looking out at the city from the roof of Max's condo, Deuce was busy playing pool with some of Max's soldiers.

"It's not that bad Max, he's a good guy."

"Yeah but he didn't even agree to working for us until he was forced into a corner, how can we trust that."

"He ain't no snitch, you remember that heist back in 2000 where one of 'em shot the cop cars and got away with millions, that was him he could have snitched then but he kept his mouth shut. Besides he reminds me of you back when I took you under my wing." Max knew that was coming, he had only met Deuce before but 8-ball had told him about his prison experiences. He had to admit the story brought back flashbacks of his own experiences. The biggest difference between him and Deuce was the fact that Max was the type to pick a fight.

"Do you realize that in one day I managed to take over turf from the Yardies and The Yakuza and my crew makes roughly one million a year over here?" Max wasn't bullshitting somehow he managed to make quite a profit from this humble operation. "Besides didn't Mickey already refuse?"

"Yeah but you know how Mickey is he'll come around eventually."

"All right if you want my vote then he's got to do what I've done."

"What that?"

"He's got to make a million dollars in one day."

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AN: And there it is another chapter and another character introduced. I've already got the concept planned out for the heist so I'll get a jump on that probably tomorrow. For now there are only a couple of characters I have yet to introduce and I'm still planning on going into depth on Phil. Hopefully the next chapter will have more action in it.

Max is actually a character I've been working on for a long time he was the OC I came up with right after Deuce. His role and background has changed numerous times but this is the final version. I also brought in Mickey this chapter I'm sure that I got his history wrong but I never really liked his character and right now I'm trying to portray him as and Antagonist that's still technically and ally due to the fact that he's a Leone capo.

Anyway I promise you that when the time comes and I finish Deuce's Tale I'll give more closure then you got if you tuned in for The Sopranos Season Finale. I'm disappointed that there was no shoot-out or anything dramatic but I still do think that it worked for an ending it's just that I think I'll want to have some closure for my ending. There may still be some questions left unanswered in case I decide get to making a sequel. Also keep your eyes peeled I'm working on a one-shot for GTA I should have it done within a month.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed, you guys make it worth keeping the story going.


	14. Inspirational Words

Deuce sat in the living room of his apartment staring at the clock taking drags from countless cigarettes, looking at the clock again, rubbing his temples, and then finally taking in a deep breath before exhaling and sinking into his couch. This was one of the times when he felt like he needed a drink like the booze kept him alive, not today. Today was one of those days when he knew he'd have to be sober not a drop of alcohol in his veins until he finished the job he was an alcoholic but he was also a professional when he needed to be. As soon as he got home last night he poured every drop of alcohol down the drain and threw away the empty bottles.

"_A million fucking dollars, not $100,000, not $250,000, not even $500,000 and that's cash I could be happy with. A million goddamn dollars by midnight tonight."_ He looked up back at the clock it was only 10:30 A.M he had been up all night trying to figure something out. A million dollars by midnight, there wasn't a single thing he could think of that he could do. A bank job was definetly out of the question he had no crew, no plan, no equipment and no chance. An armored truck seemed slightly more likely but he doubted he could find one with a million dollars in a matter of hours and it was still risky as hell. The whole situation was shit not a single chance in the world. Normally he'd admit defeat and just move on being made wasn't that important to Deuce but Toni had really gone out for him on this, he wasn't just going to go out like a bitch after that. He took yet another drag and then snuffed out the cigarette in the ash tray he set beside him on the couch, _"I need to clean that thing out."_ He grabbed the ash tray and headed into his kitchen, the aluminum trash can reflected his face, the image wasn't the clearest but he could tell how he looked. His hair was a mess, five o'clock shadow was coming in, and he had bags under his blood shot eyes. Deuce took off the lid and poured the ash and cigarette butts down into the trash can.

XXXXXXXXXX

Skull moved his shoulder and his arm around still trying to see if it felt any different to move it after being shot. The only strange feeling came from the stitches he had received from a back alley surgeon who used whiskey as a disinfectant. He gripped the steering wheel of his car tightly and then looked over at his current partner in crime who nudged his arm to get his attention. "You got a light Skull?" Skull only knew the Russian man as Vlad. He reached into his jacket and pulled out a cheap lighter and then lit his partner's cigarette then he pulled out one of his own and lit it up. The two men sat in silence in Skull's car for ages simply sitting, watching, smoking, and occasionally one of them pointed out a hot woman walking on the side walk in front of them. There was no friendly banter no swapping of stories they simply sat there in silence… waiting.

XXXXXXXXXX

Deuce was still sitting in his couch trying to figure out how he could make the money in time. He reached for the closest pack only to find out when he grabbed it that it was empty, _"Just my luck."_ He started to rub his eyes it wouldn't be impossible to stay awake through the day but he could still feel that he had been awake all night. He got up to head over to his kitchen to grab something to eat until he heard a knocking at his door. He slid over to the door quietly and looked into the peephole quickly to make sure that he would be staring down the barrel of a gun. Once he got a good look he realized it was just Joel, probably wanted to talk to him about the damage down at Deuce's new gambling racket. Deuce quickly undid all the locks on his door he had installed and let him in.

"Jesus Christ Deuce, talk about paranoia."

"It helps me sleep at night what can I say." Deuce headed to his kitchen and grabbed two bottles of Sprunk from his fridge and then handed one to Joel. Joel opened the bottle and looked but didn't take a drink instead he just kept staring at Deuce. "What?"

"No offense, but you look like shit."

"Yeah I know I didn't get any sleep I got a lot on my mind."

"Yeah Toni told me that's why I'm here to see if you need any help, and to tell you that the damage is taken care of."

"Thanks for both of those I appreciate really, how much I owe you?"

"I'll just settle for half of what's left after we give to mil to Max, so you got any ideas?"

"Nothing as of yet, are you hungry?"

"I could eat."

"Let's head down to Phil's maybe after some good food we'll be able to think of something."

XXXXXXXXXX

Skull was still sitting in his car waiting he had just finished his cigarette and started fiddling with the radio. He worked his way through the various music stations and talk shows before calling it quits and turning it back off. He took a deep breath out of boredom looked down the streets to see if there were even any cars on the road, none except for one that caught his eyes a black Sentinel, "Shit get the hell down man." Skull and the other Phantom both ducked down below visibility until they were sure the car had passed.

"Who was that?" Vlad asked.

"That's Joseph Aprile."

"Who the hell is Joseph Aprile?" the other phantom was completely clueless

"Deuce that's that asshole Deuce, let's go get him."

"Hold up skull we got a job to do."

"But he's right there." Skull was eager to kill Deuce thought's of vengeance still ran through his head the close call he had with his gargantuan sidekick only made him hunger for it even more.

"We can't afford to get distracted on this you know how important this is, think of how much we got at stake." Skull knew this was important but he it seemed impossible to resist the urge to kill Deuce and Joel, but they were right there they wouldn't even see it coming it'd be fast and clean. Skull stared at Deuce's car, he was right there it was exactly like last time.

"Whatever let's just hope we can get this over with soon so we can find 'em."

XXXXXXXXXX

"How about we hit up an armored car they've always got a bundle of cash," Joel said.

"All ready thought of it, too much risk and not enough chances for cash, there's usually only one a day in town and we got three islands to cover." Deuce shut up once a waitress came back with their food Deuce had ordered a cheeseburger with a side of chicken strips while Joel had ordered a cheeseburger with a side of fries. Deuce took a sip from his Sprunk while Joel took one from his beer. Deuce was wearing a pair of baggy blue jeans some white tennis shoes and a blue and white jacket with an 8-ball on the back along with the words, "8-ball's Auto Garage" with a tight white t-shirt underneath. Joel was wearing black dress shoes a pair of khakis and a black polo shirt.

"You sure you don't want a drink."

"Yeah man I don't drink when I got to pull something big."

"So much for being an alcoholic, well right now we don't have any chance there's nothing we can pull in such a short amount of time."

"We can do it we just need to think. All right let's break it down the only thing we can do to make that much in a day is to steal it, it'd be just about impossible to sell anything, and there's no way we can earn that with one job."

"Man these are the days when I wish I was one of those big shots with connections up the ass."

"You and me both." All of a sudden Deuce's cell phone rang. "Who the hell is calling me?" Deuce flipped open his phone and looked at the screen, "Hello."

"Hello is this Joseph?"

"Uh yeah, who is this?"

"It's me, Donald." Deuce's eyes nearly pooped out of the sockets.

"Oh sorry about that Mr. Love it's just the number came up as unknown." Joel just about had as big a heart attack as Deuce.

"Is that really Donald Love?" Deuce just silently nodded.

"Don't worry about it now Toni said you were in need of some money."

"Yeah I need to get a million for someone by midnight tonight."

"Well I happen to know about a large deal going down tonight in your side of the city."

"A deal, how big of a deal is it?"

"Oh very big about 1.5 million dollars worth of cash will be there."

"WHAT!!!" Things just kept getting heavier for Deuce right now he was in need of a million dollars by tonight and he's was getting tips from one of the most powerful men in Liberty City.

"So you're interested."

"Yeah what do I got to do for you?"

"Some Cartel members are going to be purchasing some very important documents."

"What are they for?"

"That's not important right now just make sure you get them in one piece. One more thing, kill every Cartel member there."

"All of them?"

"Yes you see I have many issues with the Cartel and I'd like to see them suffer a little."

"Whatever you say Mr. Love, just tell me when and where it's going down."

XXXXXXXXXX

Skull started fiddling around with the radio, "Would it kill the DJs if the stations played anything other then pop and techno." Vlad chuckled and nodded in agreement.

"Maybe we should kill the DJs so they'll play something decent."

"It probably wouldn't hurt."

"Yeah maybe they could play some classic rock." Skull and Vlad turned to face the new person to their conversation. "The name's Carlos."

"Are you with the Cartel?"

"Yeah, we're ready to make the deal meet us down at the docks in thirty minutes."

XXXXXXXXXX

"So have you ever been in a Mexican standoff before that shit in the casino." Joel asked right now Joel was driving his truck a '92 Yosemite painted a nice fire engine red.

"No, have you?" Deuce was busy fiddling around with the radio trying to find Game FM.

"Once I ended up getting shot in the chest it almost killed me, luckily nothing important got hit."

"Shit, I bet that hurt like hell." Joel turned and pulled up next to Deuce's car. Both of them got out of the truck and walked up the back of the sentinel.

"So what do you got in here?" Deuce went opened up the trunk and let Joel take a look, there were two guns in the trunk and AK-47 and an AI AE sniper rifle. "Not bad."

"Which one you want?"

"I'll take the sniper rifle I've always been a good sharp shooter."

"Good because I was gonna take the AK-47 regardless." Deuce said. He picked up the drum magazine round he had set next to the AK-47.

Joel picked up the rifle and inspected it, "What's the effective range on this thing?"

"Uh, I think 600 meters." He put down the gun and reached for a small backpack in the trunk. He zipped it open and checked inside, "All right we'll take your truck."

XXXXXXXXXX

"Where are these assholes?" Vlad asked while Skull was fiddling around with his Glock 18.

"I just want to get this over with. What are you packing?"

"Nothing I figured I wouldn't need it, we're just making the deal right?"

"You should always be backing."

"I guess." Vlad admitted in defeat. Suddenly something caught Skull's eye he looked over to the entrance in the docks a black Patriot was slowly rolling in to the docks. The Patriot pulled up slowly next to Skull's Sabre. The tinted windows rolled down to reveal that the driver was the Cartel member from earlier. Skull and Vlad got out of the car as did the Cartel goons.

"You got the money Carlos?" The Two cartel members that were riding in back dropped two duffel bags next to Skull.

"You got what we want?" Vlad reached in the car and pulled out a suitcase. "Nice doing business with you." Vlad put the case on the top of the car and slid it over to Skull.

"Just be a little more punctual next time." Skull was handing the suitcase over to Carlos when all of a sudden a loud bang rang out and everyone took cover. Another shot rang out, "WHERE THE FUCK IS IT COMING FROM?!" Skull shouted out, he had taken cover crouching behind the car. He took a look over the hood, Carlos was dead and so was one of the other Cartel members. He looked over and saw Vlad right next to him, "this is why you bring a gun."

Skull crouched down and starting heading towards the bags, he was just about there he reached out for the closest bag until he saw a cartel member just a few feet away drop. He ran back to the other side of the car and then he heard a series of gunshots. "What's going on?" Skull looked in front of him and there was Deuce holding an AK-47. Skull pulled out his gun and tried to take aim but Deuce started shooting and the bullets were coming up leaving a trail of holes. Skull leaped to his side for cover in a desperate move he landed on his shoulder. He rolled over in pain and started screaming he had ripped open the wound on his shoulder and broke the stitches. He got up and started running off as fast as he could, he didn't care about the cash he just wanted to get the fuck out of there. As he ran he could hear the gunshots in the distance the cries for mercy followed be more shots.

XXXXXXXXXX

Deuce and Joel were standing in and elevator Joel was holding on to carrying the suitcase. "Before we talk to him I got to tell you something."

"What."

"Don't eat anything he offers."

"Why."

"Just trust me you don't want to eat anything he has here."

"Whatever." The doors to the elevator slowly opened and Deuce and Joel walked around looking for Donald.

"Mr. Love, are you here?" Suddenly Donald love appeared from behind them he was wearing some sweat pants and a sweatshirt. "We got the documents." Joel handed the suitcase over to Donald. A smile crept up on his face when he looked inside the case.

"Great, would you two care to join me I was just going to get something to eat?"

"Thanks but we got to go, we still have a few things we got to take care of."

"All right take care." The two men headed back into the elevator once the doors slid shut Deuce pulled out his cell phone.

"What's with the phone?" Joel asked with a puzzled look on his face.

"Remember that bag I brought over?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"There was a bomb in it and as soon as I call a certain number it'll arm it." Deuce dialed in the number of his phone.

"Where'd you put the bomb?" Deuce pressed the "Send" button.

XXXXXXXXXX

Skull walked back to the scene of the crime the cops had yet to show up after all this time, _"What a surprise."_ His shoulder was still hurting but managed to stop the bleeding for now, he'd still need to see a doctor. He looked over the place everyone was dead, Carlos with a look of pain on his face, Vlad looked different though there was pain in his expression but you could see that he knew Skull had abandoned him. Skull just shook his head and got into his car. He sat in the seats and started up the car when all of a sudden he heard a beeping noise. He looked all around before he spotted the bag in the passenger seat the beeping became kept getting faster. "Shit!" Skull opened the door as fast as he could and started running again before the force of the explosion knocked him to the ground. He was alive but he felt like shit now his whole body hurt the pain in his shoulder was the greatest though. Skull slowly got himself on his knees and looked down to where his gun had fallen out thanks to the explosion. He looked at the gun at the writing he had put on it himself. "Revenge is Sweet" was written on the gun in silver letters.

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AN: Another chapter is finally done. It looks like the Phantoms are getting pretty heavy for a crew that claims no turf. Normally I'd describe characters better but Carlos and Vlad were destined to die in the chapter so I decided not to. I'm sure if I wanted to I could have put them more but I think this'll work the best, nothing like a little bloodbath to add to the drama. Right now Skull must be getting really pissed at Deuce. Just what is the death count in the story so far anyway?

So far I've revealed what Skull wrote on his gun and what Deuce had in his trunk both of which were things I was gonna wait until the final chapter. Luckily I still don't plan on revealing what's up with the phantoms until the Final Chapter (I got to keep some suspense in the story).

Thanks to everyone who's reviewed you guys are the reason I keep doing this shit.


	15. A True Professional

The usual late night crowd had begun to gather at Phil's. The broken down drunks who only had enough cash to get by gathered together in their usual seats at the front at the bar so they were never far from the taps. The women who could leave a great life but ended up in shitty relationships that seemed to get worse had joined each other and were exchanging stories of better days. The career criminals from various walks of life and affiliations had scattered throughout the place and were trying to enjoy their drinks while looking over the shoulder because they weren't sure if that one person who seemed familiar to them get them for something they had done years ago.

Deuce was sitting at the front of the bar enjoying his beer, usually he'd finish his drinks off fast but tonight he was savoring it. He set down his beer, "You want another drink?" Deuce just his head no and took the final swig from the bottle.

"Did you just turn down a drink?" Deuce looked behind his back and then smiled.

"Are you really gonna lecture me tonight man." Phil knew Deuce didn't mean to be an asshole but sometimes it really bothered him. He had known Deuce for pretty much all of his life and he could tell when something was bothering him.

"What's the matter?"

"Nothing just tired I guess."

"Well you wanna head into my office."

"Sure I could use a little quiet right about now." Deuce got up and followed Phil into his office. The customers just focused their attentions on whatever food or drink they had ordered for the day. Phil sat Deuce down and took a seat next to him. "So what's wrong with you kid you look like shit."

"Nothing some sleep won't cure it's just that I didn't get any damn sleep last night and I had some stuff that I took care of earlier all in all it's just been a long day. So how are things going with you?"

"Good, things are going good." Phil could tell Deuce was ready for sleep he kept slipping out of consciousness and then shaking his head to keep awake. "I'm thinking of selling the place." That woke up Deuce up.

"What do you mean closing it up?" Deuce asked.

"I'm getting on in years Deuce, I've done a lot with my life: I came to this city on my own, worked my ass off to start this place, got married, raised a daughter, and I even managed to keep you out of trouble when you were a kid."

"I don't know if you'd want to put that last bit on your resume." Deuce laughed a little and now he was wide awake that bit about selling the bar had given him a shot of adrenaline. "Anyway what'll happen to this place?"

"It won't be my business anymore so I don't really care. It's time for me to take the cash I saved up and head off to Shoreside Vale."

"At least one person I know has a good plan."

"It'll be nice you know, to get the wife out of here so we can enjoy the rest of our lives." He reached back in the drawer and pulled out a small television remote. He flipped on a small TV and went through the channels until he found the local news station, "Let's see what's happening in Liberty City."

"And in other news there's been a horrible incident down at the Portland docks. Among the dead were members of the local Columbian drug cartel, and one man who authorities have yet to identify. Police apprehended this man Jack 'Skull' Sabina." The image showed Skull in a hospital gown lying in a bed unconscious. "He has currently been placed in a hospital and is under police surveilence, the police have stated that once he has recovered from his wounds he will be questioned and possibly tried for his involvement in what can only be described as a tragedy." Phil turned off the TV and sighed.

"Man I liked it better when you were trying to tell me all the good things you've done with your life." Deuce reached into his jacket packet only to find an empty cigarette pack.

"Good now maybe you can quit smoking for today." Deuce crumpled up the pack and tossed it over into a nearby waste basket.

"What does it matter not like I got much to look forward to?"

"Oh come on so what if you made a few mistakes in your life."

"I've made a few mistakes?"

"There are a lot worse people out there, you're different from them you need to find yourself a good girl and slow down."

"Yeah you'd be singing a different tune if I was after your daughter."

"At least I know you'd treat her right. Lately that girl has fallen into a bad habit of dating assholes."

"It doesn't really matter I've got bigger problems then my love life."

XXXXXXXXXX

Cindy Wong was sitting in her office sipping mediocre coffee. She looked up at the photo on the computer monitor it was Deuce's mug shot from back when he didn't have the scar, he looked so much different he almost looked innocent without it. _"He could have easily had a victim count in the double digits," _Dr. Lopez's words were still occasionally popping up in her head. "I think we might be in for some trouble with this guy." She looked back at the picture and then she opened up a drawer and pulled out a pen and paper then began writing down notes.

"Who's that?" Cindy didn't look back to check and see who was behind her, she wasn't sure how long she'd be here so she didn't bother to learn names.

"Joseph Aprile, you heard of him?"

"No." Cindy ripped the paper off the pad, folded it, and then put it in her pocket then she got up slid on her jacket and started to head off.

"If Jarvis asks I'm went out to look into something."

XXXXXXXXXX

A man that stood at an even six foot stepped up towards the lockup door and reached into his pocket and pulled out a key. He looked over the area to see there was nobody around he looked behind back and saw all the two cops standing outside the hospital doors. _"Must be where they're holding the guy they were talking about on the radio."_ He crouched down and undid the padlock then opened up the door. He looked at the car he had been supplied it was a solid black '98 V8 Ghost, _"That'll do."_ He grabbed his suitcase then walked up to the car and got into the driver seat put his suitcase on the passenger side floor then he noticed that there was a black leather suitcase. He decided to the check it out later and checked the ignition the keys were already there he started the car then took off down the street. The car ran smooth and quiet just how liked it, he looked into the rear view mirror and checked to see if anyone was following him so far no one.

Once he was sure that no one was following him he turned on the radio looking for a music station before he settled on Chatterbox FM the current topic seemed to involve the rise in crime in Liberty City recently. He turned and got on the Callahan bridge then with one hand moved his hair out his eyes right now his jet black hair just reached his shoulders. Most men in his profession kept they're hair at a short length he however he kept his longer it was never a problem for him and he thought he looked better with it. He was always smooth and professional he was always on top of his game his former employers made sure of that. He took off his solid black wrap-around sunglasses that matched his all black suit with black shoes and let his almond brown eyes take in what little light there was now. He pulled into an alley and then opened up the suitcase there was there was his cash in advance in bills no larger then twenties as he had requested. There was also a piece of paper with an address and a phone number which was probably what the cell phone was for. He grabbed the phone and dialed in the number then waited for someone to pick up. "Hello?"

"It's Sigilo, where do we meet?"

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Rico was hanging out in Hepburn Heights with some other Diablos when something caught his attention, "Who the fuck is she?" Rico pointed over at woman walking around and talking to another Diablo standing by the door at the apartment complex. When they were done talking the Diablo walked over to Rico. "What did she want?" Rico asked.

"She wanted to know if that Deuce guy was around and I told her no, thing is though I've seen her before she's a cop."

"All right, you guys take off I'll go check this out." They all started going and there own way and Rico took out a cell phone and dialed a number as quick as he could. "Come on answer damn it."

XXXXXXXXXX

Deuce came up to his door went through his keys when his cell phone started to ring. He put his keys in his jacket and looked at the number, "Who the fuck?" He answered it quick, "Who is this?"

"It's Rico but listen there's no time to explain anything you need to get out of there."

"Why?"

"There's this woman looking for you she's a cop get out right now."

Deuce heard a ding and turned around the elevator doors opened and out stepped Cindy, Deuce immediately recognized her, "Shit!" He took off and headed down the staircase with Cindy close behind him.

"Freeze or i'll shoot!" Cindy yelled as she pursued Deuce down the stairs he laughed at her until she fired a warning shot close to his head and then he took off faster than before.

"Crazy bitch ain't you heard of non-lethal force." Deuce said after he jumped off the last few steps, he had reached the bottom of the staircase.

"If you keep running like this I promise the next one won't miss." But Deuce kept running until he got to the door he slammed it shut and took off again. Once he got outside he saw Rico sitting in his modified Stallion Deuce kept running then jumped on the car, ran over the trunk, and then jumped into the passenger seat, "let's go."

XXXXXXXXXX

Sigilo walked into the hotel room, it wasn't bad it had all the basics for a good price. He put his two suitcases on the room's desk then lied on the bed. He relaxed a little and closed his eyes soon he started to hear music playing in his head and he smiled a little. All the other hits he had preformed in Liberty City had always been quick in and out jobs and always had absolutely no challenge to them mostly he would just take the out from a distance his employers always seemed to be picky. Though once he was told he could take the target out on his terms, he decided to take the guy out in his own car he simply hid in the back the tinted windows just helped so he couldn't be seen it didn't really matter though because the guy was drunk so he simply hopped into the car and Sigilo slit his throat from behind. He really liked when he could get up close and personal like that. This job would be up close but it'd be a lot more dangerous, in fact if he wasn't careful it might be his last job even though he was a true professional.

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AN: Another chapter complete and another character brought in to the story however I don't plan on using Sigilo much though in fact he might only appear once more in the story though it should be one of the better parts of the story. I do plan on using him in more stories though including a possible origin story. If this chapter feels a little rushed and lacking in quality it's because I got a real bad case of writer's block and I wanted to make sure I stuck with a deadline I set.

As always thanks to everyone who's reviewed so far.


	16. Nothing Lasts Forever

Nothing Lasts Forever:

Rico's car pulled up slowly and came to a stop in front of Toni's restaurant. "All right, thanks Rico. You got a place to lay low at until this blows over?"

"Yeah, anyway you got my number so give me a ring if you ever need any help."

"No problem, I'll catch you later Rico." Deuce stepped out of the car and on to the sidewalk the sudden introduction of the cold night air gave him a chill up his spine that made him shake a little. He and Rico headed back to Deuce's place when the coast was clear and grabbed a duffel bag then filled it with clothes and the contents of his safe luckily that woman didn't search his place. He sold the drugs he had stashed and guns and accessories except for his two Jericho 941s some ammo and the holsters and he had 8-ball looking after his car he was covered except he had to tell Toni about this and get a place to stay. Deuce started for the restaurant, Toni probably wouldn't be too happy about this. _"Rico said that chick was a cop, so what was up with the shooting why didn't she bust me then?"_

Deuce walked through the door and into the restaurant, Deuce really loved the place there weren't to many places where you could walk into the "employees only" area with a mysterious duffel bag without someone asking you a question or even looking at you twice. He walked up the stairs and into Toni's office, Joey was there along with three of his bodyguards. Deuce simply walked up to his boss, "Hey Toni I need a favor."

"In a minute kid, I was just telling Joey the good news about that little gift you got for our friend downtown." Joey got up and patted Deuce on the back.

"You've done a great thing for us Deuce we got made men that ain't done as much as you have."

"Thanks Joey, but this is important," Deuce looked back at Toni, "Someone came for me today I think she was a cop."

"Shit," Toni said before started shaking his head. "What's she got on you?"

"I don't know I didn't stick around long enough for her to tell me. I managed to slip away thanks to Rico."

"Rico is that the guy that El Burro brought to my place," Joey asked.

"Yeah I jumped into his car and we got away. I'm telling you there's something messed up she was there the night I took over the gambling racket. Anyway I need a place to stay until I get this sorted out."

"Speaking of which, Joey and I got some bad news for you, the place got torched."

"Goddamn it! I move up a little bit and someone fucks it up for me." Deuce was visibly pissed but he knew there were more important matters.

"I know but right now we need to get you someplace safe." Toni took out a piece of paper and started writing down an address when he was done he handed it over to Deuce along with a key. It's a place over on Staunton Island. I hid out there back in '98 someone just put food in the fridge yesterday we like to make sure that are safe houses are stocked in case shit like this happens. By the way if you're holding I recommend you get that shit sold fast. And don't worry about the other thing we'll take care of him ourselves."

"Thanks Toni and don't worry I already took care of it." Deuce put the key and address into his pocket and then headed for the door, "See you guys later."

XXXXXXXXXX

Toni watched Deuce hail a taxi, get in, then ride off from the window in his office, "What do you want to do Toni?" Joey asked. Toni turned his chair around, "He's gonna have to lay low for a while."

"We need to do some digging I think I know which cop he was talking about."

"What about Deuce?"

"We'll have Fonti and his boys watch out for him, he'll be in their turf so it shouldn't be too hard. Other then that he's just gonna have to wait for us to get shit figured out, and we already know who torched the place it'll be taken care of tonight."

XXXXXXXXXX

Deuce sat in the back of the taxi fighting off the urge to sleep, _"This place better have a good bed, because this insomnia bullshit is really starting to get to me."_ He glanced over at his bag then looked ahead and out the windshield the traffic was starting to build up. He looked at the meter and saw the fare was doing like the traffic. "Hey buddy I really need to get going."

"Well I'm sorry but I can't do shit about the traffic."

"Get where I need to the place in ten minutes and I'll give you a hundred dollars." That was all Deuce needed to say.

XXXXXXXXXX

Before Skull opened his eyes and saw the bland ceiling tiles, before he smelled the sterile smell of the hospital room, heard the beep of the EKG machine, he felt pain immense pain. He wished they gave him a breathing tube that way they kept him on anesthesia so he wouldn't feel anything. He opened his eyes and the sudden introduction of the lights hurt his eyes and his head. The beep of the EKG machine ignited a sharp pain in his head with every beep and so he prayed his heart worked well so he didn't have to feel one long pain. He tried to move his head but he couldn't do much, he couldn't move his limbs well either but that didn't matter because of the various restraints that were used to make him stay there.

He moved his head as much as he could and looked too see that he was the only one in the room then he immediately brought his head back to a comfortable position. _"My god, I feel so fucking weak right now. At least there are no guards or cops in the room just these restraints, like it matters I can hardly move at it is."_ Every fiber of him was sore but now he had regained his senses in time so he could hear the approaching nurses. He quickly shut his eyes and acted as if he were asleep.

"Did you hear about this one?" Asked a nurse, she had a tone to her voice that made Skull imagine as a sweet girl in her early twenties for some reason.

"This is the one that cops picked up and the docks." Replied the other nurse who had a southern accent, she sounded the cold tone suggested she was older and seen plenty of things in her life.

"Yeah, he was the only one they found alive, he doesn't look too alive though look at all those bruises and cuts." The younger one almost sounded like she was concerned.

"Don't feel too sorry for him he got a lot of this from the cops after he tried to get away, from what I heard he grabbed one of the cop's nightsticks and hit him with it." Skull found it almost impossible not to smile when he heard that and it all started coming back to him. "Anyway right now we just need to give him this morphine in case he wakes up soon so he doesn't wake up with all that pain and kill somebody."

"_Thank god finally some relief."_

"He'll probably like this too," Stated the southern woman, "According to the blood tests this guys used heroin recently."

"Are you serious?"

"Unfortunately yes, thing's aren't looking up for him, chances are he's used for some time so he'll go through withdrawal, not to mention the fact that he'll have the cops on him as soon as he can stand on his own."

"_She's right, I already beat on one of them and then there's all the bodies this pain the cops will hurt worse then this after they're through with me."_ He heard them walk out and he was alone again, as usual. He opened his eyes again only this time slowly allowing his eyes to adjust to the light. His head turned slowly and he looked over at the morphine that was dripping ever so slowly, drip, drip, drip…

XXXXXXXXXX

Deuce closed the door behind him and locked all the locks on the door. The various clicks and clacks were followed by the sound of the key Toni gave Deuce landing on the nearby kitchen table. He walked past the living room and headed straight into the bedroom a bed never looked so comfortable. He picked his bag back up and put it on the other side of the bed. The bag landed on the ground with a thud as did Deuce's tired body when it finally landed on the bed.

XXXXXXXXXX

They got into the apartment no problem they just had to pick a couple of locks. They snuck into his bedroom no problem there was hardly anything at all. They poured the gas no problem and didn't even wake him up when one of them said, "This fucker messed with the wrong people." They led a trail to the door and lit a match when they heard him.

"What the fuck smells like gas?" He asked groggily and then one of them knelt down with the match and dropped it. "IT IS GAS!" The flame traveled fast and reached his bedroom. "I GOT TO GET OUT!" He screamed at the top of his lungs but it was all in vain. The second he got on his feet the flames got to him and he was engulfed in hellfire. He screamed as his burning body fell to the ground and the rest of the room began to catch fire. The two men responsible were already outside. They looked back at the apartment block all the rooms were dark except for one room where there was a beautiful orange glow inside the apartment.

XXXXXXXXXX

The various locks on the solid door came undone and the door opened bringing in a light that stung eyes that hadn't seen daylight in so long. He quickly brought up his arm to shield his eyes and then groaned with a dry throat. "Shut the door," came out of his mouth with a hoarse tone. He had grown a scraggly beard and his head which usually had a short caeser had grown out hair. When his visitor shut the door the pupils in his brown eyes grew wider and adjusted back to the darkness and he could see enough to know his visitor was a guard. "How long I been in here?" He sat up on his cheap bed listening to the squeaking of the rusted frame.

"Three months kid, anyway you need to get up warden wants to talk to you."

"Why?"

"I don't know, but your lawyer is here to." The guard opened up the door again and he squinted to the point were his eyes were almost closed and lowered his head. The guard walked out of the room and he followed until he reached the door and then he turned around to face something he hadn't been able to see in months. He didn't know when it was carved in, how it was carved in, or who carved it in, but he knew why it was carved in. For several years now it had been then as a sign of confidence to soldiers of a fallen army, carved into the wall in that wall was "CBK forever." The guard came back and cuffed his hands together. "Come on."

"Nothing lasts forever, nothing but my days in here."

XXXXXXXXXX

Deuce rolled over in the bed and looked over at the clock 3:00 P.M. then closed his eyes again. "What the fuck am I supposed to do. I'm stuck here while I'll the shit in Portland is going down and I can't help one goddamn bit," he scratched the stubble on his chin, "at least I got time to shave." He got up from the bed and started for the bathroom until he heard his cell phone ringing from inside his bag, "Hello."

"Deuce, I heard you were in my part of town."

"Fonti?"

"Yeah, listen things are little complicated and we need to talk, meet me in about an hour at the men's room in the park."

XXXXXXXXXX

He sat down in the chair in front of the warden's desk next to his lawyer. When he saw the warden's reaction he looked over at a mirror to see his own image the beard freaked him a little to. "Well Leon, it looks like you're lawyer has some good news for you."

"You're being let out Leon." His eyes grew wide in disbelief, "It turns out the witness who testified against you was lying, and the evidence was planted. There was a corrupt police officer behind it and when he was discovered they went through some of his other arrests and you can probably guess the rest."

"So no retrial or anything they're just letting me go?"

"It appears so, in fact you're getting out today."

"Just like that?"

"What's the matter?" The warden asked, "Haven't you ever heard of not looking a gift horse in the mouth."

"Yeah but this seems too good to be true. I was sentenced to life with no parole and now I get out just like that, no one even bothered to tell me about this until now." Everyone in the room stayed silent but he understood, they couldn't believe it either but that's just how it went sometimes, nothing lasts forever. "So can I go now?"

"We just need to go through a few things on your file and make note of any new info that needs to be sent to the police." The warden opened up a file and looked through it, "Now let's see: Leon Phillips, African-American, are you still 6'1"?"

"Yeah, but my weight is something like 210 pounds now."

"Ah, so something has changed." The warden wrote down the new weight in the file, "Any aliases?"

"No." That was a lie.

"All right, how about tattoos or scars."

"No." There was another lie.

"Then we're done here, follow the officer to get your things and you're free to go."

"Good now I can get a damn shave and a haircut."

XXXXXXXXXX

Deuce strolled through the park and kept his eyes on all the other people in the park. Occasionally he'd take a glance behind himself to make sure he wasn't being followed but it looked like everything was going smooth. He kept walking through the park he was wearing a black baggy t-shirt, baggy blues jeans, and white tennis shoes. A wind came up all of a sudden and rolled a newspaper by him, the headline read "Aliens to blame for crime?" He came towards the steps to the bathrooms and walked down stairs then walked up to one of Fonti's bodyguard. "You got any guns?" Deuce reached back and pulled out the IMI Jericho 941 he had tucked under his pants and handed it to the guard. "Guess that belt is good for more than holding up those pants."

The guard moved over and let Deuce through. Fonti was waiting inside with two other bodyguards. "Are things really getting that bad?"

"It never hurts to be careful, anyway we should make this quick it's not the best idea for us to be talking right now. Toni and Joey think that someone in the family is talking."

"And you all think that they're giving the cops info on me?"

"Yeah but we just don't know what. Anyway for now you're just gonna have to stay wherever Toni has you staying and keep laying low, the place you're staying has food right?"

"Yes."

"All right, one more thing Toni said they took care of the little problem. Anyway you should get going kid and don't worry this situation should be taken care of quick after all, nothing lasts forever."

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AN: Another chapter to a story that seems to have no end in sight. I'm starting to wonder if I'll get this done before there's a new president. Anyway I'll be going more in depth on Leon Phillips next chapter and there might be some good action to. The next two chapters might have little to no Deuce at all, he's the title character but he's laying low for now so I can't do much. It'll give me the opportunity to give the other characters time and put in some action, I might even give Sigilo more time than I expected to give him earlier. As usual I'm sure there are mistakes but I don't think there are too many this time around.

Thanks to all of those who reviewed and told me that they enjoy my story you all really make it worth it.


	17. Stubborn Fools pt 1

Stubborn fools pt. 1

Leon walked out of a changing room in a baggy white shirt baggy blues jeans and the same cheap shoes they made him wear while he was locked up. He was sentenced to life with no parole so instead of keeping his shit they burnt his clothes and the cash he had on him when they picked him up had disappeared a long time ago. "Do you have a place to go to Leon? Have you got a place to stay?"

"Not yet, but I think I know where I can go."

"I'll be glad to give you a ride if you need it."

"Sure, let's head over to Wichita Gardens."

XXXXXXXXXX

Jimmy walked into the restaurant kitchen looking over the staff, _"Where is he."_ He started walking again keeping his eyes peeled when all of a sudden he saw a teenager take off out the back door, _"Here we go."_ He took off and moved nimbly avoiding the various kitchen appliances, counters, and of course kitchen staff. He was out the back door and he looked over at a scared dishwasher he had tripped and landed flat on his face. "Every time someone knows I'm coming they run. They always think they can get away." A dark evil smile formed on his face.

"I'm sorry, I'll get your the boss the money. Please just give me more time and I can have it by tomorrow."

"It's too late." Jimmy bent down to pick up the dishwasher when all of sudden he felt a sharp pain in his arm. "I thought knives were my thing." Jimmy gripped the handle of the knife that had been driven into his arm and pulled it out without sign of pain in his face, just that same smile. "Now you're going to suffer."

XXXXXXXXXX

The car pulled up along side the curb, "Thanks, I'll take it from here." Leon stepped out his lawyer's 1992 Washington and started walking down the sidewalk looking over the neighborhood on the ride over he didn't spot any of the red jacks or purple nine's graffiti. "Things really got fucked up over the years." He walked down the streets until he felt something poke into his back.

"Put your hands up!" Leon did as he was told and slowly turned his head around and looked at a person who looked more like a zombie than anything else. "Give me your cash!"

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There's a butcher shop in Chinatown that a lot of people know about, most know about it simply as a butcher shop, less know that it was owned by Jimmy Fu, and only a few know what he does in the meat locker because most who find out don't live long enough to tell anyone about it. Jimmy knew a girl who could take care of most wounds for a good price. The needle went through Jimmy's skin quick but not necessarily painless, didn't really matter all it did was give him more anger to motivate him. She finished the stitches then bandaged up his arm tight.

"Thanks for the cash Jimmy." He lit up a cigarette and watched her leave his office. The door shut and he heard the lock click, then his phone rang. He took a long drag and then picked up the phone.

"Yeah?"

"I heard things didn't go as planned. There's more to talk about just not over the phone."

"I've got something to handle first shouldn't take too long and I'd rather take care of it right away."

"How much time do you need?"

"One hour should do, see you then." One hour to have a little fun then take care of the body. He reached over and grabbed to the blue silk t-shirt and slid it on followed by the black three-button blazer. He opened up the door and headed down stairs and into the meat locker. There he was his hands were in cuffs and held up by a meat hook hanging off the ceiling. He was in his boxers and his chest was covered in dry blood he was shivering uncontrollably and his back was against the cold metal wall. Jimmy pulled out some black leather gloves and slid them on.

"I knew you were going to be trouble, but stabbing me I got to admit I didn't see that one coming, you got balls."

"Fuck you."

"That's some big talk for a dead man." Jimmy walked up to a side of beef patted it. "Right now you're this, just a dead piece of meat hanging on a hook and freezing, maybe I should tenderize you." Jimmy picked him up and held on hard as his latest victim struggled to get free and Jimmy carried him over to another meat hook. When he set him back up he was in the middle of the locker instead. Jimmy left and then came back with some more cuffs and a sledge hammer.

"No… please no." He begged to no avail, Jimmy grabbed one leg and cuffed it by the ankle to a loop on the floor then did the same to the other. "Stop… please." His words were getting further apart he was starting to freeze to death Jimmy would have to act fast if he wanted to have any fun.

"Last time you said something like that I ended up with a knife in my arm." He picked up the hammer and looked at his legs. "Where should I start?" He brought back the hammer and then swung it and it connected with his left knee. When the hammer hit the knee shattered with a loud crunch and the victim let out a blood-curdling scream.

"I bet that hurt." He swung the hammer again and it connected with his left thigh and then there was another loud crunch only this time the handcuffs snapped. "Well, those were some cheap pieces of shit." He looked at the now dangling leg with a sense of pride. "You can't even move the damn thing can you?"

"Pain… nothing but pain." He began to sob horribly.

"You know I don't think this would be the best place to be crying," he didn't stop he just kept crying. "DID YOU FUCKING HEAR ME?!" Jimmy swung the hammer again and this time hit his right shin and he hit it so hard the cuff snapped but that wasn't all his tibia broke and poked out of skin. His leg swung back and forth and the metal handcuffs scraped across on the floor and made an annoying noise until the blood gushing from out of his leg and onto the floor muffled it. Jimmy tossed the hammer on the ground then picked him up off the meat hook and dropped him. He landed on his legs then collapsed to the ground and onto his puddle of blood. He looked up at Jimmy and saw the smile on his face and the hammer that was back in his hands. "What a fucking cry baby." He brought the hammer back and slammed it down on his skull, there was no more crying.

XXXXXXXXXX

"You just had to fuck with me didn't you?" Leon had his hands up. "I ain't got any cash on me man."

"BULLSHIT!"

"Look at me man I just got out of the fucking joint, I don't have a goddamn dollar to my name." Leon could hear his mugger getting nervous. A car sped on by which took the mugger's attention away from Leon he turned around in a flash and grabbed his arm then kneed the mugger in the nuts. He dropped his gun on the ground and then collapsed, "Fucking punk, you just had to fuck with me." He kicked the mugger in the stomach while he was already in pain. He picked up the gun it was a Glock 26, "This should do." He picked up the mugger who was currently writhing in pain on the ground. "I got a few questions for you."

"Fuck you." Leon pistol whipped him, "You crazy asshole."

"Where are the nines and the jacks?"

"They're wiped out, gone. They fought between themselves so long that it was easy for the cartel to take over."

"Bullshit." Leon pressed the barrel of the gun against the mugger's forehead.

"I'm serious man they're gone for good the cartel runs everything in Shoreside Vale."

"Well now that we got that cleared up would you mind telling me what you're on that makes you look like an extra from Mall Munchers?"

"Spank."

"There's a big dealer around here who goes by 'Cap' you know him?"

"Yeah I know him."

"Where is he?"

"He moved up to a nice house in the hills but he's got a girl in the neighborhood she lives in that apartment block over there she's on the top floor room number 7."

"That's all I need to know." Leon smacked the back of his head with the guns grip and knocked him out. He dug through the mugger's pockets slowly and carefully because his wasn't to sure what this guy was on and he didn't want to get poked buy a needle infected with a myriad of diseases. "Well I guess this guy isn't too broke." Leon found some cash in one if his pockets. "It's time for me to get some new clothes." He knew he had a shot now no more of the same bullshit, small time scores until you eventually got picked up for some minor shit that ended up fucking you big time. Chance's were Cap didn't know he was out and he could get out of town easily the cash could get him a cheap bus ticket and he could go somewhere were nobody knew him if he needed more money before he left he had the gun, but he was just too stubborn.

XXXXXXXXXX

Skull woke up and opened his eyes once more only this time it wasn't slipping out of his sleep peacefully this time instead it came from someone pressing his shoulder. He woke up and emitting a low guttural groan and shooting up a little in his bed it would have been more but his body was still week and moving actually caused him more pain than the pressure on his shoulder. "It looks like the patient responds to pain well enough."

He lied back down and looked up at the nurse that had prodded his shoulder. He could tell from her voice that it was the older nurse from yesterday she had a face like one of those women you see at a dead-end job that she started when she was young while she had hopes and faith only to be shattered and stuck in that same dead-end job. It wasn't so much that she looked older than she was but she had that look in her eyes like the gleam of a young woman with goals and happiness was destroyed and now her eyes were dull and lifeless. "I guess the morphine wore off." She said in a tone that could only be taken as hostile.

Then there was the younger nurse standing next to her a blonde blue-eyed girl. She was exactly what you envisioned the older nurse to be ten years or more ago back when she was happy. There was something about her that almost gave a golden glow that would seem to be the greatest weapon against the demonic nurse next to her. "Don't you think that was a rough way to wake him up?"

"I don't hear him complaining."

"That's because my fucking jaw hurts." Skull replied he was surprised he was able to speak clearly through the pain.

"Well that isn't surprising those fine police officers really went to work on you. The nurse picked up a mirror from the tray she had brought in. His face and whatever parts of his body that wasn't covered up by the hospital gown was horribly bruised. "It looks like someone was being stubborn," she said with that same hostile tone.

XXXXXXXXXX

Leon pulled the hood of his new coat up and then lowered the flat brim of his hat and rubbed his recently shaved jaw the rubbed the back of his head to feel his new haircut back down to the short ceaser he was used to. He looked down at his new boots and kept his head low enough to where people couldn't see his face clearly but he could see where he was going. He reached inside his jacket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter then pulled one out and lit it. While he lit the cigarette he looked around, there were two guys at the front door standing guard and another waiting in a black patriot. Leon couldn't recognize the two guys at the door but the guy waiting in the patriot was Cap's right-hand for as long as Leon knew him. _"Looks like the front door is out of the question, Guess I got to try the fire escape."_ Leon got a look at the fire escape when his lawyer drove him here he couldn't quite remember if it was there back when he lived here but he knew that it was there now.

XXXXXXXXXX

Jimmy Fu drove down the street with a sense of completion all issues at hand were taken care of the pest was dead, the scene was clean, and he was stitched up. He pulled up along the street and stepped out with the same look on his face that you'd expect a movie star to have when they stepped out their limousine and onto the red carpet at the premiere of their latest movie. He walked through a dark alley and towards the back door for some reason there weren't any guards there. After walking through to his boss' office he was somewhat disappointed the room was void of life, except for the usual furniture and a letter on his boss' desk it was empty. He picked up the envelope and immediately opened it up.

"_Jimmy sorry we couldn't do this in person but something's come up and I had to slip out of here and take care of it. The Leone's are starting to piss me off somehow they found out who we had torch that place Aprile took over and they returned the favor and to make it worse the cops might have connected us to him so I need you to watch your step. Anyway something's up with Cipriani's new dog he's in hiding. He was spotted coming out of Cipriani's restaurant and then getting into a taxi and taking off now no one knows where he is but there's a chance he's alone so if we can find him this would be our best opportunity to take him out. I'll be doing a little bit of digging into so be ready there's no one else I trust to do this. Make sure you take care of this note after you're done and I'll talk to you soon."_

XXXXXXXXXX

Leon took a quick glance into the apartment and got a look at Cap before he headed into the bathroom then he also saw money on the living room coffee table like it was nothing. "Good thing I didn't just skip town." He stepped back when he saw Cap's girl heading towards the window. He got tense as he stopped doing anything that might make noise except for breathing until she opened up the window and then walked away without noticing the guy standing out on the fire escape. He bent down took another quick glance to see that the coast was clear and then he slipped into the room as quietly as possible. He could hear her in the kitchen going through the fridge so he crept along the wall and waited for her to come out of the kitchen. _"How long does it take for her to find something to eat?"_ All of sudden she slammed the fridge door and started heading towards Leon he brought up his gun and waited patiently.

"Who the…?" Leon grabbed her quick and covered her mouth and pressed his gun to her temple.

"Quiet you wouldn't want to disturb your boyfriend wouldn't you."

"It's too late for that." Leon heard he looked over quick and saw Cap was out of the bathroom and had a shotgun aimed at Leon.

XXXXXXXXXX

AN: Another chapter added although this one took longer than usual probably the main reason for the delay was the part with the sledge hammer. Something about it really bothered me both because of the violence of it all but strangely enough most of it seemed to be about the authenticity of it all. Not much else to say except that there'll be some more action and more info on Leon next chapter and hopefully Deuce will be back in the chapter afterwards.

Thanks to everyone who's reviewed so far.


End file.
